Minecraft is not really a speedy game but what if we could change that? Everybody has seen a speed run, but what if you just want to speed up a normal play-through? In this article, we will walk you through how to speed up time in Minecraft!

To learn even more about modifying Minecraft with all sorts of cool ideas - such as incorporating more advanced blocks such as redstone, pistons, and observer blocks to build holiday lights, automatic doors, and even flying machines inside Minecraft - join our live online Minecraft camps, starting with our beginner-friendly Minecraft Redstone Engineering class designed by experts from Google, Stanford, and MIT:

Check out upcoming free computer science events for kids led by tech experts: past events have featured guests from Pixar, NASA, Intel, and more.

Learn how to speed up time in Minecraft

Step 1. Turn on cheats.

Speeding up times requires cheats to be activated. In Java you can do this by opening the settings menu, selecting open to LAN, toggling allow cheats on, and finally clicking on start LAN world.

How to turn on cheats in Minecraft

In Bedrock Edition, open the pause menu, choose settings, on the left side select game, scroll down to the cheats section, and toggle on activate cheats.

2. Open the chat.

Now you can use the chat feature to enter your command to speed up time. To open the chat for the Java edition, hit T on the keyboard. In Bedrock Edition, hit the right button on the controller's D-Pad.

3. Type in the command for increasing tick speed.

Speed in Minecraft is controlled by a measurement known as ticks. The command we input increases how often the ticks happen and therefore increases the speed. The command to type in is /gamerule randomTickSpeed #. In this gif, we change the tick speed to 500 and you can see the results immediately.

After changing the speed you can change them back to normal by setting the tick back to the default value. The default tick speed for the Java edition is 3, and the default for the Bedrock edition is 1.

What is the command to run faster in Minecraft?

Speeding up time is a neat trick and so is speeding up your running speed. Sometimes we will do this if we need to run to the nearest village which is kind of a long way away. Using the speed-up command is pretty much the same as using a potion of swiftness. To use this command make sure cheats are on, open the chat like shown above, and type: /effect give (player name) minecraft:speed # #. The first number in this command is the number of seconds you want the effect to last; the second number is how many times the effect is amplified.

In this example, we used this command: /effect give Player minecraft:speed 1000 100.

Changing the time of day with a command

Another way to speed up time in Minecraft is by changing the day and night cycle with commands. This way is pretty simple and does not affect your gameplay as much as the other two options. To use this command make sure cheats are on, open the chat like shown above, and type: time set (time you want). You can set the time to day, midnight, night, noon, and number values from 0 to 24000. Daytime starts at 0 and nighttime starts at 13000 for reference. In Bedrock, you can also set the time to sunset.

Now you can fast forward time in Minecraft

Now you know a couple of ways to speed up gameplay and your character using commands! If you want to read more about what you can do with commands in Minecraft, check out cool Minecraft commands.

Did you know there are mods you can use to speed up Minecraft? If you think mods are exciting or want to learn more about them, try one of our many Minecraft coding classes that teach students how to code in Minecraft!

Minecraft Redstone Engineering is an excellent start for students in grades 2-5, before moving on to Minecraft Modding Quest. Meanwhile Minecraft Code to Mod is tailored for grades 5 and up. In these live online classes, students will learn how to make changes to Minecraft that make it their own unique experience! Hope to see you in class.


Written by Create & Learn instructor Andrew Harper. Andrew has always had an interest in coding, and after he got his degree and certification in education, he realized that he could be a coding teacher! From there, he started researching and learning a lot on how to integrate computational thinking into education. His dream is to one day create educational software, materials, board games, and video games that encourage students to apply critical thinking and STEM foundations to improve their classrooms and communities. He always tells his students, “ if you can imagine it you can create it in code!”