GameMapa

Minecraft Color Codes & MOTD Generator

Click any color or style below to copy its code, or build a server message in the editor with color, bold and italic, and get four ready output formats at once.

Code reference

CodeNameHex
§0Black#000000
§1Dark blue#0000AA
§2Dark green#00AA00
§3Dark aqua#00AAAA
§4Dark red#AA0000
§5Dark purple#AA00AA
§6Gold#FFAA00
§7Gray#AAAAAA
§8Dark gray#555555
§9Blue#5555FF
§aGreen#55FF55
§bAqua#55FFFF
§cRed#FF5555
§dLight purple#FF55FF
§eYellow#FFFF55
§fWhite#FFFFFF

Formatting codes

CodeName
§kObfuscated (cipher)
§lBold
§mStrikethrough
§nUnderlined
§oItalic
§rReset style

In the actual game, characters with this code scramble randomly several times a second. Here it is shown as a flicker animation instead — an ordinary web page cannot reproduce the exact random cycling.

MOTD editor

Type § or & before a code, e.g. &c&lHello — both markers are accepted the same way.

Ready output formats

Line for server.properties

motd=\u00A7a\u00A7lWelcome to the server!\n\u00A77Type /help for commands

String with §

§a§lWelcome to the server!
§7Type /help for commands

String with &

&a&lWelcome to the server!
&7Type /help for commands

JSON text components

[
  [
    {
      "text": "Welcome to the server!",
      "color": "green",
      "bold": true
    }
  ],
  [
    {
      "text": "Type /help for commands",
      "color": "gray"
    }
  ]
]

How we calculate

Each code is the paragraph sign § (or the easier-to-type ampersand &) followed by one letter or digit: 0-9 and a-f pick one of 16 text colors, while k, l, m, n, o and r turn on obfuscation, bold, strikethrough, underline, italic, or reset the style. A code applies to everything typed after it, until another color code or r shows up.

If a color code follows a style code (say, bold), the game clears the style automatically — a new color always starts from a clean slate. Worth remembering when typing by hand: to keep bold and only change the color, the style code has to be repeated again after the new color code.

Sources

checked 17 September 2026

Questions and answers

Why 59 characters specifically for the MOTD?

The Server.properties page on minecraft.wiki warns directly: a MOTD longer than 59 characters can make the client's server list show a connection error instead of the message. Only the visible text is counted, not the § or & codes.

Why does the motd= line show something like \u00A7 instead of §?

The § character is awkward to paste straight into a properties text file, so the MOTD editor converts it to that character's standard unicode code (the same \u00A7 notation minecraft.wiki's "Typing" section uses for § inside JSON text — applied here to the .properties format, not quoted verbatim from the wiki). The second line is joined on with a literal backslash followed by n, which the Java properties file format reads as a line break inside one value.

What is the difference between § and &?

They are the same formatting code written with two different characters. § is what the game and the server.properties file actually recognize; & is just an easier stand-in for typing by hand (there is no § key on a keyboard), and it still needs to be converted to § before use.

Why does color reset bold and italic when it comes after them?

That is how the game itself works (Formatting_codes, "Usage" section): a color code applied AFTER a style code clears every style that was active before it — so order matters in the editor: put the color first, then bold/italic/underline. Doing it the other way around (style first, then color) drops the style and leaves only the color.

Can I use all 16 colors and all 6 styles in server.properties?

Yes — the MOTD in server.properties supports the same color and formatting codes as regular in-game text, as stated directly on the Server.properties page. The exception is codes §g-§w (extra "material" colors), which only work on Bedrock Edition and are meaningless in a Java server's MOTD.

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Unofficial tool. Not affiliated with the developers or publishers of Minecraft.