We are often asked whether we are allowed to use or display Minecraft skin files on our website - especially when a specific head has been submitted without the original creator's explicit permission. This article aims to clarify the legal situation based on Mojang's and Microsoft's policies, and to explain how we handle skin submissions, ownership concerns and share why we take the approach we do.

We care about our community and want to ensure everyone feels heard—even if we can't always act on every request.

Legal Context According to the Mojang EULA?

In the first chapter ("Summary") of the well-known Mojang EULA - which all players agree to when installing Minecraft - it states:

This means that when users upload skins or other content to Mojang’s services (such as via their Minecraft profile), the Microsoft Services Agreement also governs how that content may be used and directs us to the Microsoft Services Agreement, where in chapter §2a ("Your Content") it explains:

When a player uploads a Minecraft skin to their account, it becomes publicly accessible through Mojang's skin servers (e.g., via UUID or username). Since this action is a form of sharing content through Mojang’s/Microsoft’s services, the skin is legally allowed to be:

• Displayed,
• Used in derivative tools (like head generators),
• Shared across platforms,

as long as it's within the purpose of the services (Minecraft content creation and gameplay tools).

Therefore, tools like the Head Command Generator and community databases that display or catalog heads based on skin data are permitted under these terms.

Our use of Minecraft skins is aligned with the permissions granted under Mojang's EULA and Microsoft's Services Agreement. By uploading content to Mojang's skin servers, players make it available for display and reuse within the Minecraft ecosystem - per Microsoft’s terms. For details, you can review the Mojang EULA and the Microsoft Services Agreement.

Why We Do Not Remove Heads?

While we understand that some users may feel uncomfortable seeing a head they created on the site without being asked first, we generally do not remove heads or skin files from the website, even though this approach can sometimes be viewed as controversial.

We believe that preserving a comprehensive and accessible collection provides lasting value to the entire community by offering a rich resource for creativity, inspiration, and shared enjoyment. Our goal is to maintain and grow this collection to deliver the best possible service for Minecraft players and fans worldwide.

Beyond this ideological commitment, there are also practical reasons why we keep heads in the collection:

Ownership is Difficult to Prove

We are unable to definitively verify the ownership of any given skinfile. While it's easy for someone to claim ownership, proving such claims with certainty is often not possible.

Skins Are Used by the Community

Once a skin is published in our database, it may be used directly by others. Removing a head without warning could cause confusion or upset among those who use it. Many players depend on our site to find and reuse heads. Removing a head may break builds or resource packs that rely on them.

Skins May Be Resubmitted

Many community members rely on our database as a go-to source for great heads. If someone finds a head they like, they might submit it themselves-even if they aren't the original creator. Sometimes, skins are even slightly modified, making it even harder to identify the original author. As a result, heads may be resubmitted to the database even after removal.

Our Commitment to Quality and Community Effort

Our aim is not to take the credits from others' work, but to support creativity and bring Minecraft players together around a shared passion for Minecraft.

This website is a community-driven project, and maintaining it requires many hours of dedicated work from multiple volunteers each week. Validating, naming, and tagging heads involves carefully reviewing every submission and combining our collective knowledge. While some details may occasionally be overlooked by some team members, others bring expertise in recognizing characters, items, and references from various franchises. Because of this effort, we are committed to preserving and sharing our work for the benefit of the entire community.

All in all, if you would like to ensure your head is never used by others, please do not upload it to the Mojang servers or publish it anywhere on the internet!

Why We Don't Ask for Permission?

We are often asked why we don't request permission before using skin files. 

The short answer is: it's not possible, and attempting to do so would create an overwhelming amount of work that would make this collection impossible to maintain.

Or in other words, it’s not practically or technically feasible:

• Users submit only their Minecraft in-game names, which are not linked to email addresses or any direct contact information, so we have no way to reach them.
• If we could contact them, we still don't know that the owner of the Minecraft account is the creator of the skin.
• Reaching out to thousands of players/creators and waiting for their approval would be an excessive task and beyond our capacity.
• Conducting external research on each skin to identify and contact the original creator would also be excessive work and beyond our capacity.

Because Mojang’s terms already allow public use of uploaded content, and in order to keep the project alive, we rely on this framework.

When We Actually Remove a Head?

We generally retain heads in our collection but we take content moderation very seriously. While rare, there are specific circumstances where we do remove heads from the database:

Blacklisting Heads

We carefully review every head before publishing, but sometimes we may miss hidden symbols or lack the necessary context. We fully support Mojang's EULA guidelines, which state:

If you come across a head that promotes hate, displays symbols of hate groups, or contains content of a similar nature, please contact us immediately. You can reach out via our Discord or post on our forums. As long as you provide a clear explanation, we will thoroughly evaluate the head and remove it if necessary.

Head Updates

Occasionally, a head may have minor graphical issues that are fixed in a newer submission. For example, if a head was initially submitted with a black bottom texture and a corrected version is later provided, we will validate the updated head and remove the old one. This process ensures the quality of our collection, even though it may mean the original version is no longer available.

In line with this, we are committed to maintaining a safe and respectful environment for all users.

Conclusion

We hope this article has helped you better understand the legal situation as well as our motivation behind maintaining the collection. We highly respect the Mojang EULA and its values, and it is our goal to provide a meaningful addition to the Minecraft community. We sincerely thank everyone who supports our service and the work we put into this project. If you have any further questions or would like to discuss this further, please feel free to join our Discord and reach out.

~Minecraft Heads Team

Last update: 5th June 2025