In Minecraft Java Edition, players can either jump into a world on their own and explore it, or they can join their friends in a multiplayer world and play together.

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So, how does a player join another's private world? They can join friends on Minecraft Pocket Edition and Bedrock, hop on a LAN server (Java), or connect to a realm.

"Minecraft" offers cross-platform play for both versions of the game — Bedrock and Java — but you can only play with users who own the same version.

Here's what you should know about the differences in Minecraft Java and Bedrock for Windows before you choose which to install.