A living cross-section of the world, drawn from the game's real worldgen odds. Drag to set your mining depth, click an ore column to inspect it.
Branch mine at Y -59 with 1x2 tunnels spaced two blocks apart. Avoid open caves: half or more of air-exposed veins are deleted.
95%Y -59. Every figure on this page is read from the 26.2 worldgen files the game itself ships, so it reflects what actually generates rather than a community estimate.
Diamond generation is weighted towards the bottom of the world. The main batch uses a triangular distribution centred on Y -64, so the chance of a vein rises the deeper you go and does not fall off again before you hit bedrock. Bedrock occupies Y -64 to about Y -60, which is why the practical answer is Y -59 rather than Y -64: it is the lowest level you can dig a tunnel through without fighting bedrock.
There are four separate diamond batches, and they do not behave the same way. The small and medium batches place ordinary veins. The buried batch has discard_chance_on_air_exposure set to 1.0, meaning any vein that would touch an open block is thrown away before it generates. The large batch discards 0.7 of air-exposed veins.
That single value changes the correct strategy. Most diamonds in the world are, by design, sealed inside solid stone. Walking through open caves at Y -59 shows you the small fraction that survived the air-exposure check. Digging your own tunnels puts you in contact with the ones the game deliberately hid.
Minecraft places ore in separate batches, each with its own count, height range and vein size. A discard value above zero means the game throws away veins that would touch open air, which is what decides whether caving or tunnelling is the better approach.
| Batch | Veins/chunk | Range | Vein size | Air discard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ore_diamond | 7 | triangle, peak at Y -64 | 4 | 50% |
| ore_diamond_medium | 2 | uniform Y -64 to -4 | 8 | 50% |
| ore_diamond_buriednever generates touching air | 4 | triangle, peak at Y -64 | 8 | 100% |
| ore_diamond_large | rare | triangle, peak at Y -64 | 12 | 70% |
Four of the game's diamond batches discard between half and all of their air-exposed veins. Branch mining at Y -59 beats walking caves at the same depth, because the veins that got discarded near open air are exactly the ones you never see from inside a cave.
The peak level differs for each ore, and a few of them share a band closely enough to mine on one trip. The full interactive chart is on the ore distribution hub.
| Ore | Best Y level |
|---|---|
| diamonds | Y -59 |
| netherite | Y 15 |
| iron | Y 16 underground, Y 232 in mountains |
| coal | Y 96, or anything above Y 136 |
| gold | Y -16, or anywhere in a badlands |
| redstone | Y -59 |
| lapis lazuli | Y 0 |
| copper | Y 48 |
| emeralds | Y 232, mountain biomes only |
| nether quartz | Any level from Y 10 to 117 |
| nether gold | Any level from Y 10 to 117 |
Y -59. The diamond distribution is a triangle peaking at Y -64, but bedrock fills Y -64 up to roughly Y -60, so Y -59 is the deepest level you can mine cleanly.
The difference is negligible. The distribution is nearly flat across those two levels. Y -59 is preferred because your character's eye level and the two-block tunnel height let you see one level above and below as you dig.
Yes, but rarely. The triangular distribution extends to Y 16, so veins exist up there, they are just far less frequent than at the bottom of the world.
Yes. Fortune III on diamond ore averages roughly 2.2 diamonds per block, compared to 1 without it. Silk Touch instead gives the ore block itself.
Related ore levels:
