How to Enable RTX in Minecraft Windows 10

Ray tracing in Minecraft adds realistic lighting, shadows, reflections, and glowing textures. On a Windows 10 PC, it works in Minecraft Bedrock Edition (the Windows version, not Java Edition) with a DirectX 12 ray tracing graphics card, such as an NVIDIA GeForce RTX card or a supported AMD Radeon card. You also need ray-tracing-ready content, then you switch the graphics mode to Ray Traced in the Video settings. If you don’t own Bedrock Edition yet, the official Minecraft free trial for Windows 10 gives you about 100 minutes of Survival play so you can see how the game runs on your PC before buying.

Quick Answer

Update your graphics driver and Minecraft, install a ray tracing world or resource pack (free RTX worlds are in the Minecraft Marketplace), open the world, then go to Settings > Video and set Graphics Mode to Ray Traced.

What You Need

• Minecraft Bedrock Edition for Windows. Java Edition does not support Mojang’s ray tracing. If you bought Minecraft: Java & Bedrock Edition for PC, launch the Bedrock version from the Minecraft Launcher.
• A DirectX 12 ray tracing GPU. Supported cards are GeForce RTX GPUs and select AMD GPUs. In practice that means an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20-series or newer card, or an AMD Radeon RX 6000-series or newer card. GTX cards and integrated graphics will not show the option.
• Ray-tracing-ready content. Ray tracing only appears with worlds or resource packs that include physically based rendering (PBR) textures.
• An up-to-date Windows 10 installation. Ray tracing needs DirectX 12; you can check your DirectX version with dxdiag.

How to Enable RTX in Minecraft on Windows 10

Confirm Your Graphics Card

Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager, select the Performance tab, and click GPU. The card name appears in the top-right corner. If it shows GeForce RTX or Radeon RX 6000 or higher, you can continue.

Update Your Graphics Driver

Install the latest driver from NVIDIA (GeForce Experience or the NVIDIA app) or AMD (AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition). Older drivers are the most common reason the ray tracing option is missing or the game crashes. The full process is in updating graphics drivers in Windows 10.

Update Minecraft

Open the Microsoft Store, go to Library, and click Get updates, or update from the Minecraft Launcher. An update that seems stuck can be pushed through when you force update Minecraft on Windows 10.

Get a Ray Tracing World or Resource Pack

In Minecraft, open Marketplace and search for “ray tracing” or “RTX.” Mojang and NVIDIA offer several free ray tracing worlds there. You can also import a community PBR resource pack (.mcpack) by double-clicking it, then activate it under Settings > Global Resources > My Packs or in the world’s Resource Packs settings. Before adding packs, it’s worth backing up the world, which starts with knowing where Minecraft world files are on Windows 10.

Turn On Ray Traced Graphics Mode

Load the world, press Esc, and go to Settings > Video. Set Graphics Mode to Ray Traced. If the option is greyed out in-game, go back to the main menu, open Settings > Video, turn on Allow In-game Graphics Mode Switching, and try again. On older versions of the game, the setting is a toggle labeled Ray Tracing.

Adjust Performance Settings

Ray tracing is demanding. In the same Video menu, leave Upscaling (NVIDIA DLSS) turned on and lower Ray Tracing Render Distance if the frame rate drops. Values of 8 to 12 chunks work well on most mid-range cards.

Ray Tracing vs Vibrant Visuals

Vibrant Visuals is a newer built-in graphics mode for Bedrock Edition. It adds better lighting, reflections, and fog without a resource pack and runs on far more hardware, including non-RTX cards. Ray tracing still offers the most realistic lighting on supported PCs, and Mojang has no changes planned to ray tracing for Windows because of Vibrant Visuals. If your PC does not support ray tracing, set Graphics Mode to Vibrant Visuals instead.

Troubleshooting

The Ray Traced option is missing

• Make sure you are in Bedrock Edition, not Java.
• Confirm the active world or resource pack supports ray tracing; regular worlds will not offer it.
• Update your GPU driver and Minecraft.
• Check that your card supports DirectX 12 ray tracing. GTX 10- and 16-series cards do not.

The world turns very dark or textures look wrong

Ray tracing uses realistic lighting, so caves and interiors are much darker; place more light sources. If textures fail to load, return to the main menu, deactivate and reactivate the resource pack, and reload the world.

The game stutters or crashes

Lower the ray tracing render distance, turn on Upscaling, close background apps, and make sure a laptop is plugged in and using its dedicated GPU (Settings > System > Display > Graphics settings > Minecraft > High performance).

Windows 10 is no longer supported

Microsoft ended Windows 10 support on October 14, 2025. Minecraft still runs on Windows 10, but future game and driver updates may require Windows 11, and the steps above are the same there.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use RTX in Minecraft Java Edition?

Not with Mojang’s ray tracing. Java players use third-party shader packs, which are a different system.

Do I need an NVIDIA card?

No. Mojang supports GeForce RTX GPUs and select AMD GPUs. NVIDIA cards can also use DLSS upscaling for better frame rates.

Are ray tracing worlds free?

Several official ray tracing worlds in the Minecraft Marketplace are free, and many community PBR resource packs are free to download.

Does ray tracing work on Xbox or mobile?

No. Ray tracing is available only in Minecraft for Windows. Other platforms can use Vibrant Visuals where supported.