# unused-textures is a seven years of self-improvement pile of Minecraft sprites, given away > The unused-textures repository collects pixel art sprites the author made for Minecraft mods that were never finished, mostly 16x16 RGBA images with accompanying .mcmeta files for the animated ones, published under CC-BY-4.0. It suits a modder or pixel artist looking for free assets with no strings attached, and it comes with a written policy on commissioned work. **malcolmriley/unused-textures** — Repository for unused textures I have made over the years. - Repository: https://github.com/malcolmriley/unused-textures - Stars: 543 · Forks: 48 - Language: Unknown - License: CC-BY-4.0 - Published: 2026-10-22 · Updated: 2026-10-22 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/malcolmriley-unused-textures ## What is actually in the repository The description is plain: a repository for unused textures made over the years, and the README explains why they are being published. The author's stated reason is practical. The textures were not doing any good sitting on a hard drive, so they have been gathered for others to use. While they were originally intended for various never-finished or never-released Minecraft mods, the author supposes they could be used for just about anything else, with other games, an application icon or a YouTube channel logo given as examples. The directory layout is the Minecraft resource pack convention. Those four directories at the repository root, plus samples.png as a preview image and the LICENSE file, are the entire contents. There is no code, no build, no documentation beyond the README. Most are simple 16x16 RGBA sprites. Of those intended to be animated, the author has included accompanying .mcmeta files for the convenience of anyone incorporating them into their own Minecraft mods. The .mcmeta files are what tell Minecraft how a texture animates, and shipping them alongside means the sprites drop into a resource pack and animate in game rather than needing a hand-written metadata file per texture. The stated topics are minecraft, minetest, pixel-art and textures, which is a fair description of a set of sprites that was drawn for Minecraft but is usable by anything that takes a small PNG. ## The naming convention, and why it is searchable There is one piece of structure in the repository and it is worth understanding before you browse. The author tried to name the textures such that any local clone of the repository would be searchable. The example given is that you can search `blob` to get all the blobby textures. The author then hesitates to call the naming pattern a system, or even a pattern for that matter, which is an honest disclaimer about something that is in fact a consistent convention. For anyone working with these files, that is a real practical property. Because the names encode the subject, a grep over a clone finds a coherent set rather than a jumble of numbered files. A modder who needs a matching family of wood blocks or a set of food items can locate it by name instead of by eye. The quality note is the other thing to know. The textures vary in quality somewhat, as the author puts it, because they collectively represent approximately seven years of what they would like to believe is self-improvement. That framing tells you exactly what you are looking at: a chronological archive of one person's practice, not a curated pack. For a project that needs visual consistency, that is a problem. For a project that needs one specific asset, it does not matter at all. ## An active repository with a fetch reminder This is not an abandoned dump, and the README says so directly. The author has been updating the repository every now and then as they create new textures or find more old ones, and the README asks anyone who has forked or cloned it to at least do a `git fetch` every once in a while. The last push to the repository was on 2026-10-12, and the repository is not archived. There are no GitHub releases, which is consistent with a repository whose contents are files rather than a versioned artifact. So the practical instruction is: if you are using these textures in something ongoing, treat the repository as a source you pull from rather than a one-off download. The files are added, not replaced, so a fetch is additive and low risk. The `.gitattributes` file at the root is worth noting as well. In a repository of binary PNGs, attributes are how you control line endings and diff behaviour for the non-image files, and they matter here because the repository also carries text assets such as the .mcmeta files and the README. ## Browsing it as a gallery rather than a file list The README's most useful practical section is the gallery view, because it solves the real problem with a repository like this, which is that there are a lot of small files and no way to see what they look like. GitHub user oparisblue created the Minecraft Textures Viewer, which allows you to view the contents of a local folder or a GitHub repository as a searchable image gallery. It also reads .mcmeta files, so animated textures mostly appear as they would in game. The README links a gallery view pointed at this repository on the master branch. That turns a directory listing into something you can actually search visually. Given that the naming convention is the author's own and somewhat idiosyncratic, a searchable image gallery is a better way to find what you want than reading filenames. The tool is useful beyond this repository. The README notes it is great for viewing repositories such as these, for a top-level view of your modpack, or for whatever other use case you can think of. The projects directory listing at the end of the README points to four other texture repositories, Foreck's Textures, FreneticScribbler's OpenTextures, Futureazoo's TextureRepository and CleanRooster's RPG Assets, which are the alternatives if you want a larger or more stylistically coherent set. So the ecosystem has a viewer tool that works across several texture repositories, and the README is candid that this is not the only one of its kind. ## The commissioning policy, which is unusual for an asset dump A section on special requests is the part of this README that most distinguishes it from a pile of files, and it is worth reading in full before you contact the author. The reason for the policy is that since publishing the repository the author has received a number of requests for spritework or assistance, and time is limited and there are other projects to tend to. The compromise has two halves. If any of a list of conditions applies, the author must request compensation. The conditions are: you wish to retain exclusive adaptation or distribution rights to the work, you are on a timetable and have specific deadlines, you have a specific vision or specific aesthetic requirements, or you have many requests that need filling, with the threshold set by the author. Compensation requests go to mriley.texture.inquiries@gmail.com. If all of the other list applies, the work is free. Those conditions are: you do not mind that the produced works are publicly available for adaptation and redistribution, you are not on a timetable and are okay with being on the author's, you are okay with being at the mercy of the author's creative interpretations, and you are okay with the author potentially turning down requests that are too large or too numerous. In that case you can open a discussion post on the repository or send the same email. The condition attached to accepting the work is that the spritework must be added to the repository as CC-BY-4.0, or made publicly available with attribution and a licence permitting free adaptation and redistribution. If the author makes something for free, it is free for everyone and on the author's terms. So the licence is not incidental to the policy. It is the mechanism, and it is the same licence the existing repository is published under. ## Where this repository is the wrong choice Four situations argue against it. The first is a project that needs visual consistency. These textures are explicitly uneven in quality and span seven years of work, so a pack built from them will not look like it came from one artist with one style. If you are shipping a product with a coherent visual identity, an artist who can execute a brief will serve you better. The second is an attribution-sensitive or closed project. CC-BY-4.0 requires attribution, and the author reserves the right to ask that any commissioned work be added to the public repository under the same licence. If your project cannot carry a credit line or cannot tolerate its assets being redistributed, this does not fit. The third is a need for a supported asset pipeline. There is no build, no manifest, no versioning, no changelog and no compatibility statement about which Minecraft versions the textures work with. The .mcmeta files handle animation, but nothing tells you whether a given texture is a 16x16 block face or an item sprite, or whether it is drawn in the style of a particular Minecraft era. The alternative in the same direction is one of the other repositories the README links, where the trade is different. Foreck's Textures, OpenTextures and Futureazoo's TextureRepository are larger and are maintained with the intent of being used, so they may give you a more consistent set to pick from, at the cost of the specificity this repository offers. What unused-textures gives you that a larger pack does not is exactly one person's working set, findable by name, with the animation metadata already written, and a licence that lets you adapt and redistribute without asking. ## Conclusion unused-textures fits a modder or game developer who needs small pixel art sprites and is willing to credit the author under CC-BY-4.0, whether for a Minecraft mod, a Minetest game or an unrelated icon. It does not fit a project that needs textures in a consistent, curated style, because the repository is an honest accumulation rather than a set. Browse the blocks/, fluids/, gui/ and items/ directories, use the Minecraft Textures Viewer link to search the repository as a gallery rather than as a file listing, and remember that the author asks you to run `git fetch` periodically since new textures are added over time. ## FAQ ### What is in the unused-textures repository? Mostly 16x16 RGBA pixel art sprites divided into blocks/, fluids/, gui/ and items/ directories, with .mcmeta files alongside the ones intended to be animated. The author made them for never-finished Minecraft mods and released them under CC-BY-4.0. ### How do I find a specific texture in unused-textures? The textures are named so that a local clone is searchable, for example searching `blob` returns all the blobby textures. The README also links a gallery view using the Minecraft Textures Viewer, which renders a GitHub repository as a searchable image gallery and reads the .mcmeta files so animated textures appear as they would in game. ### Can I use these textures in my own Minecraft mod? Yes, under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence, with the LICENSE file included in the repository. If you commission new spritework from the author, the same licence applies to it, and it must be added to the repository as CC-BY-4.0 or published with attribution and a licence permitting free adaptation and redistribution. ### Will the repository keep getting new textures? The README says the author updates it every now and then as they create new textures or find more old ones, and asks anyone who has cloned or forked it to run a git fetch periodically. The last push to the repository was on 2026-10-12 and there are no GitHub releases. ## Sources - [Issues](https://github.com/malcolmriley/unused-textures/issues) - [License: CC-BY-4.0](https://github.com/malcolmriley/unused-textures/blob/master/LICENSE) - [malcolmriley/unused-textures on GitHub](https://github.com/malcolmriley/unused-textures) - [README](https://github.com/malcolmriley/unused-textures/blob/master/README.md) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/malcolmriley-unused-textures