A structured binary format native to Minecraft for saving game data and transferring
it over the network (in multiplayer), such as player data
(<player>.dat
; contains
e.g. player's inventory and location), saved worlds
(level.dat
and Chunk format),
list of saved multiplayer servers
(servers.dat
) and so on -
see https://minecraft.wiki/w/NBT_format#Uses.
The entire file should be gzip-compressed (in accordance with the original specification NBT.txt by Notch), but can also be compressed with zlib or uncompressed.
This spec can only handle uncompressed NBT data, so be sure to first detect
what type of data you are dealing with. You can use the Unix file
command
to do this (file-5.20
or later is required; older versions do not recognize
zlib-compressed data and return application/octet-stream
instead):
file --brief --mime-type input-unknown.nbt
If it says:
application/x-gzip
or application/gzip
(since file-5.37
), you can decompress it by
gunzip -c input-gzip.nbt > output.nbt
orpython3 -c "import sys, gzip; sys.stdout.buffer.write( gzip.decompress(sys.stdin.buffer.read()) )" < input-gzip.nbt > output.nbt
application/zlib
, you can use
openssl zlib -d -in input-zlib.nbt -out output.nbt
(does not work on most systems)python3 -c "import sys, zlib; sys.stdout.buffer.write( zlib.decompress(sys.stdin.buffer.read()) )" < input-zlib.nbt > output.nbt
image/x-pcx
and application/octet-stream
),
it is most likely already uncompressed.The file output.nbt
generated by one of the above commands can already be
processed with this Kaitai Struct specification.
This spec only implements the Java edition format. There is also a Bedrock edition NBT format, which uses little-endian encoding and has a few other differences, but it isn't as popular as the Java edition format.
Implementation note: strings in TAG_String
are incorrectly decoded with
standard UTF-8, while they are encoded in Modified UTF-8 (MUTF-8). That's because MUTF-8 is not supported natively by most target
languages, and thus one must use external libraries to achieve a fully-compliant
decoder. But decoding in standard UTF-8 is still better than nothing, and
it usually works fine.
All Unicode code points with incompatible representations in MUTF-8 and UTF-8 are U+0000 (NUL), U+D800-U+DFFF (High and Low Surrogates) and U+10000-U+10FFFF (all Supplementary Planes; includes e.g. emoticons, pictograms). A MUTF-8-encoded string containing these code points cannot be successfully decoded as UTF-8. The behavior in this case depends on the target language - usually an exception is thrown, or the bytes that are not valid UTF-8 are replaced or ignored.
Sample files:
This page hosts a formal specification of Minecraft NBT (Named Binary Tag) using Kaitai Struct. This specification can be automatically translated into a variety of programming languages to get a parsing library.
All parsing code for Ruby generated by Kaitai Struct depends on the Ruby runtime library. You have to install it before you can parse data.
The Ruby runtime library can be installed from RubyGems:
gem install kaitai-struct
Parse a local file and get structure in memory:
data = MinecraftNbt.from_file("path/to/local/file.nbt")
Or parse structure from a string of bytes:
bytes = "\x00\x01\x02..."
data = MinecraftNbt.new(Kaitai::Struct::Stream.new(bytes))
After that, one can get various attributes from the structure by invoking getter methods like:
data.root_check # => get root check
# This is a generated file! Please edit source .ksy file and use kaitai-struct-compiler to rebuild
require 'kaitai/struct/struct'
unless Gem::Version.new(Kaitai::Struct::VERSION) >= Gem::Version.new('0.9')
raise "Incompatible Kaitai Struct Ruby API: 0.9 or later is required, but you have #{Kaitai::Struct::VERSION}"
end
##
# A structured binary format native to Minecraft for saving game data and transferring
# it over the network (in multiplayer), such as player data
# ([`<player>.dat`](https://minecraft.wiki/w/Player.dat_format); contains
# e.g. player's inventory and location), saved worlds
# ([`level.dat`](
# https://minecraft.wiki/w/Java_Edition_level_format#level.dat_format
# ) and [Chunk format](https://minecraft.wiki/w/Chunk_format#NBT_structure)),
# list of saved multiplayer servers
# ([`servers.dat`](https://minecraft.wiki/w/Servers.dat_format)) and so on -
# see <https://minecraft.wiki/w/NBT_format#Uses>.
#
# The entire file should be _gzip_-compressed (in accordance with the original
# specification [NBT.txt](
# https://web.archive.org/web/20110723210920/https://www.minecraft.net/docs/NBT.txt
# ) by Notch), but can also be compressed with _zlib_ or uncompressed.
#
# This spec can only handle uncompressed NBT data, so be sure to first detect
# what type of data you are dealing with. You can use the Unix `file` command
# to do this (`file-5.20` or later is required; older versions do not recognize
# _zlib_-compressed data and return `application/octet-stream` instead):
#
# ```shell
# file --brief --mime-type input-unknown.nbt
# ```
#
# If it says:
#
# * `application/x-gzip` or `application/gzip` (since `file-5.37`), you can decompress it by
# * `gunzip -c input-gzip.nbt > output.nbt` or
# * `python3 -c "import sys, gzip; sys.stdout.buffer.write(
# gzip.decompress(sys.stdin.buffer.read()) )" < input-gzip.nbt > output.nbt`
# * `application/zlib`, you can use
# * `openssl zlib -d -in input-zlib.nbt -out output.nbt` (does not work on most systems)
# * `python3 -c "import sys, zlib; sys.stdout.buffer.write(
# zlib.decompress(sys.stdin.buffer.read()) )" < input-zlib.nbt > output.nbt`
# * something else (especially `image/x-pcx` and `application/octet-stream`),
# it is most likely already uncompressed.
#
# The file `output.nbt` generated by one of the above commands can already be
# processed with this Kaitai Struct specification.
#
# This spec **only** implements the Java edition format. There is also
# a [Bedrock edition](https://wiki.vg/NBT#Bedrock_edition) NBT format,
# which uses little-endian encoding and has a few other differences, but it isn't
# as popular as the Java edition format.
#
# **Implementation note:** strings in `TAG_String` are incorrectly decoded with
# standard UTF-8, while they are encoded in [**Modified UTF-8**](
# https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/io/DataInput.html#modified-utf-8
# ) (MUTF-8). That's because MUTF-8 is not supported natively by most target
# languages, and thus one must use external libraries to achieve a fully-compliant
# decoder. But decoding in standard UTF-8 is still better than nothing, and
# it usually works fine.
#
# All Unicode code points with incompatible representations in MUTF-8 and UTF-8 are
# U+0000 (_NUL_), U+D800-U+DFFF (_High_ and _Low Surrogates_) and U+10000-U+10FFFF
# (all _Supplementary_ Planes; includes e.g. emoticons, pictograms).
# A _MUTF-8_-encoded string containing these code points cannot be successfully
# decoded as UTF-8. The behavior in this case depends on the target language -
# usually an exception is thrown, or the bytes that are not valid UTF-8
# are replaced or ignored.
#
# **Sample files:**
#
# * <https://wiki.vg/NBT#Download>
# * <https://github.com/twoolie/NBT/blob/f9e892e/tests/world_test/data/scoreboard.dat>
# * <https://github.com/chmod222/cNBT/tree/3f74b69/testdata>
# * <https://github.com/PistonDevelopers/hematite_nbt/tree/0b85f89/tests>
# @see https://wiki.vg/NBT Source
# @see https://web.archive.org/web/20110723210920/https://www.minecraft.net/docs/NBT.txt Source
# @see https://minecraft.wiki/w/NBT_format Source
class MinecraftNbt < Kaitai::Struct::Struct
TAG = {
0 => :tag_end,
1 => :tag_byte,
2 => :tag_short,
3 => :tag_int,
4 => :tag_long,
5 => :tag_float,
6 => :tag_double,
7 => :tag_byte_array,
8 => :tag_string,
9 => :tag_list,
10 => :tag_compound,
11 => :tag_int_array,
12 => :tag_long_array,
}
I__TAG = TAG.invert
def initialize(_io, _parent = nil, _root = self)
super(_io, _parent, _root)
_read
end
def _read
if ((root_type == :tag_end) && (false))
@root_check = @_io.read_bytes(0)
end
@root = NamedTag.new(@_io, self, @_root)
self
end
class TagLongArray < Kaitai::Struct::Struct
def initialize(_io, _parent = nil, _root = self)
super(_io, _parent, _root)
_read
end
def _read
@num_tags = @_io.read_s4be
@tags = []
(num_tags).times { |i|
@tags << @_io.read_s8be
}
self
end
def tags_type
return @tags_type unless @tags_type.nil?
@tags_type = :tag_long
@tags_type
end
attr_reader :num_tags
attr_reader :tags
end
class TagByteArray < Kaitai::Struct::Struct
def initialize(_io, _parent = nil, _root = self)
super(_io, _parent, _root)
_read
end
def _read
@len_data = @_io.read_s4be
@data = @_io.read_bytes(len_data)
self
end
attr_reader :len_data
attr_reader :data
end
class TagIntArray < Kaitai::Struct::Struct
def initialize(_io, _parent = nil, _root = self)
super(_io, _parent, _root)
_read
end
def _read
@num_tags = @_io.read_s4be
@tags = []
(num_tags).times { |i|
@tags << @_io.read_s4be
}
self
end
def tags_type
return @tags_type unless @tags_type.nil?
@tags_type = :tag_int
@tags_type
end
attr_reader :num_tags
attr_reader :tags
end
class TagList < Kaitai::Struct::Struct
def initialize(_io, _parent = nil, _root = self)
super(_io, _parent, _root)
_read
end
def _read
@tags_type = Kaitai::Struct::Stream::resolve_enum(MinecraftNbt::TAG, @_io.read_u1)
@num_tags = @_io.read_s4be
@tags = []
(num_tags).times { |i|
case tags_type
when :tag_long_array
@tags << TagLongArray.new(@_io, self, @_root)
when :tag_compound
@tags << TagCompound.new(@_io, self, @_root)
when :tag_double
@tags << @_io.read_f8be
when :tag_list
@tags << TagList.new(@_io, self, @_root)
when :tag_float
@tags << @_io.read_f4be
when :tag_short
@tags << @_io.read_s2be
when :tag_int
@tags << @_io.read_s4be
when :tag_byte_array
@tags << TagByteArray.new(@_io, self, @_root)
when :tag_byte
@tags << @_io.read_s1
when :tag_int_array
@tags << TagIntArray.new(@_io, self, @_root)
when :tag_string
@tags << TagString.new(@_io, self, @_root)
when :tag_long
@tags << @_io.read_s8be
end
}
self
end
attr_reader :tags_type
attr_reader :num_tags
attr_reader :tags
end
class TagString < Kaitai::Struct::Struct
def initialize(_io, _parent = nil, _root = self)
super(_io, _parent, _root)
_read
end
def _read
@len_data = @_io.read_u2be
@data = (@_io.read_bytes(len_data)).force_encoding("utf-8")
self
end
##
# unsigned according to <https://wiki.vg/NBT#Specification>
attr_reader :len_data
attr_reader :data
end
class TagCompound < Kaitai::Struct::Struct
def initialize(_io, _parent = nil, _root = self)
super(_io, _parent, _root)
_read
end
def _read
@tags = []
i = 0
begin
_ = NamedTag.new(@_io, self, @_root)
@tags << _
i += 1
end until _.is_tag_end
self
end
def dump_num_tags
return @dump_num_tags unless @dump_num_tags.nil?
@dump_num_tags = (tags.length - ( ((tags.length >= 1) && (tags.last.is_tag_end)) ? 1 : 0))
@dump_num_tags
end
attr_reader :tags
end
class NamedTag < Kaitai::Struct::Struct
def initialize(_io, _parent = nil, _root = self)
super(_io, _parent, _root)
_read
end
def _read
@type = Kaitai::Struct::Stream::resolve_enum(MinecraftNbt::TAG, @_io.read_u1)
if !(is_tag_end)
@name = TagString.new(@_io, self, @_root)
end
if !(is_tag_end)
case type
when :tag_long_array
@payload = TagLongArray.new(@_io, self, @_root)
when :tag_compound
@payload = TagCompound.new(@_io, self, @_root)
when :tag_double
@payload = @_io.read_f8be
when :tag_list
@payload = TagList.new(@_io, self, @_root)
when :tag_float
@payload = @_io.read_f4be
when :tag_short
@payload = @_io.read_s2be
when :tag_int
@payload = @_io.read_s4be
when :tag_byte_array
@payload = TagByteArray.new(@_io, self, @_root)
when :tag_byte
@payload = @_io.read_s1
when :tag_int_array
@payload = TagIntArray.new(@_io, self, @_root)
when :tag_string
@payload = TagString.new(@_io, self, @_root)
when :tag_long
@payload = @_io.read_s8be
end
end
self
end
def is_tag_end
return @is_tag_end unless @is_tag_end.nil?
@is_tag_end = type == :tag_end
@is_tag_end
end
attr_reader :type
attr_reader :name
attr_reader :payload
end
def root_type
return @root_type unless @root_type.nil?
_pos = @_io.pos
@_io.seek(0)
@root_type = Kaitai::Struct::Stream::resolve_enum(TAG, @_io.read_u1)
@_io.seek(_pos)
raise Kaitai::Struct::ValidationNotEqualError.new(:tag_compound, root_type, _io, "/instances/root_type") if not root_type == :tag_compound
@root_type
end
attr_reader :root_check
attr_reader :root
end