Minecraft Mods: Loaders, Safe Downloads and Shaders

Mods are free add-ons, made by players, that change Minecraft: Java Edition. Some just make the game run faster, others add whole new machines, dimensions or mobs. Every mod needs a mod loader, and every mod, loader and game version has to match. Get those two things right and modding is easy. Get them wrong and the game crashes on launch.

Bedrock Edition doesn’t run Java mods. It has add-ons and Marketplace packs instead, which are a separate system.

Where to begin

1. Choose a loader. Fabric, NeoForge, Forge and Quilt are the four in use today. Our Forge vs Fabric comparison explains how they differ and why most big mods moved from Forge to NeoForge.
2. Install it and add mods. How to install Minecraft mods walks through the launcher setup, the mods folder and the app-based shortcut.
3. Pick your first mods. Our beginner mod list starts with performance and quality-of-life mods that keep the game feeling like Minecraft.

From there, the shaders guide covers real-time lighting with Iris, and the WorldEdit guide covers the building tool most servers use. If you’d rather write code than download it, how to make a Minecraft mod covers both no-code tools and real Java development.

Our safety rule

Download mods from Modrinth or CurseForge, or from the developer’s own linked page. Nowhere else. Sites that re-upload mods under “free download” banners are how most Minecraft malware spreads. Even the big sites aren’t perfect: in 2023, malware called fractureiser got into some uploads after attackers took over developer accounts. Both platforms tightened their checks afterward. Stick to mods with a real download history and an active page, and be suspicious of a brand-new upload that claims to be a famous mod.

Two more rules save a lot of grief:

• Back up your worlds before adding or removing mods. Removing a mod that added blocks deletes those blocks from your world.
• Match versions exactly. A mod built for one game version usually won’t load on another.

When things go wrong

If the game won’t start after adding mods, our launch troubleshooting guide shows how to read the crash report and find the mod responsible. If you only want a different look without any mods, resource packs change textures on both editions with no loader at all.