Recovering A Minecraft Skin .PNG from the Minecraft Launcher

Turns out that once upon a time this easy easy to do. Then it got less easy. Thanks, Macroshaft.

But "less easy" is not "impossible!" So long as a skin is visible in your Minecraft launcher you should hopefully be able to do this.

This guide was originally found at https://manacube.com/threads/how-to-redownload-skins-that-youve-deleted-on-your-computer-but-still-show-up-in-the-minecraft-launcher.62431/ and written in late 2020. I am reposting it with light edits for late 2024 because link rot is real and the file name/properties have been shuffled very slightly since. But credit goes to MANACUBE DOT COM forum poster Dakota for the original guide, which was still basically right when I needed it fourish years later!

Versions/disclaimers: this guide was written with/to help

  1. Get a Base64 to Image converter. There's a million of these via search engine, pick whichever looks least sketchy.
  2. Navigate to the minecraft root folder. This is often Users\[you]\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft
  3. Find launcher_custom_skins.JSON and open it in Notepad/whatever text editor. (Bonus tip: if you can make it so lines don't wrap this next part is easier, because the nametags for each field will be lined up for you.) It should look something like this:
    The file in Notepad++ with line wrapping off to make it legible.
  4. Skins will be lined up as "skin_1", "skin_2" etc. If you have only one listed, easy! If you have multiple, find the "name" field that lists its name in the launcher. (You did name it in the launcher, right?)
  5. Having identified which skin you want, find the "skinImage" line. It's going to be long. You are going to copy everything after "skinImage" : "data:image/png;base64, stopping before the closing ".
  6. Paste that very long string into your chosen Base64 to Image converter. Politely request that it convert.
  7. The converter should spit out your skin as a .png file! Save it. 🥳🎉🎊

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