There is an artificial restriction preventing the use of non-ASCII (Unicode) characters in identifiers such as team names, item IDs, tag names, and similar internal references. This limitation exists despite Minecraft's full technical ability to render and handle Unicode characters correctly.
Steps to Reproduce:
Option1:
In a mod, define a custom item ID using non-ASCII characters (e.g., modid:größe_item
or modid:日光
).
Option2:
Define a new texture or playsound in a resource pack with non-ASCII characters
Expected Behavior:
Unicode characters should be allowed in identifiers like item IDs, Playsound names etc.. Minecraft already supports full Unicode for in-game text, including chat, books, UI elements, and display names.
Actual Behavior:
Non-ASCII characters (e.g., ä, ß, č, 日) are either rejected outright or cause an error when used in commands or internal identifiers. For example:
Affected Versions:
All versions of Minecraft Java Edition
(Vanilla, unmodified—no OptiFine or third-party tools)
Additional Notes:
This restriction appears to be arbitrary and not technically necessary.
It negatively impacts international players and content creators, especially in non-English-speaking communities.
Allowing Unicode in identifiers would improve accessibility, localization, and creativity.
Environment
Minecraft Java
Attachments
Comments 2
Thank you for your report!
After consideration, the issue is being closed as Working as Intended.
Please note, that mechanics of the game may change between updates.
Things such as graphics, sounds, world creation, biomes, redstone, villagers, and animals may not work the same in current versions.
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I would like to note that any characters, and even any text component, can be used for the display of the team or objective name.
/team add team "测试Team"