Java Edition 16w06a

16w06a is the fifty-fourth snapshot for Java Edition 1.9, released on February 10, 2016.^[1]

Elytra

• The elytra texture now defaults to the cape texture if no custom texture is uploaded and the player owns a cape.

Tipped arrows

• Are now crafted by 8 arrows surrounding a lingering potion of that type, yielding 8 of them.
  • Can no longer be obtained by splashing down a lingering potion first, then shooting regular arrows through that cloud.
  • This new method can even create tipped arrows from a custom lingering potion using commands, but the tipped arrow will say "Arrow of Splashing" if it is custom-made.

Strongholds

• Generation has changed (to a formation or pattern of rings):
  • The 1st ring has 3 strongholds distanced 1408–2688 blocks from the origin.
  • The 2nd ring has 6 strongholds distanced 4480–5760 blocks from the origin.
  • The 3rd ring has 10 strongholds distanced 7552–8832 blocks from the origin.
  • The 4th ring has 15 strongholds distanced 10624–11904 blocks from the origin.
  • The 5th ring has 21 strongholds distanced 13696–14976 blocks from the origin.
  • The 6th ring has 28 strongholds distanced 16768–18048 blocks from the origin.
  • The 7th ring has 36 strongholds distanced 19840–21120 blocks from the origin.
  • The 8th ring has 9 strongholds distanced 22912–24192 blocks from the origin.

Entities

• The player's body, hand and held item is now rendered while sleeping in bed.
• Most entities in the game should now move much more smoothly.

Frost Walker

• Maximum radius is now 16 blocks (i.e., levels over 14 do not increase the range).

Performance

• Riding entities such as boats, horses, minecarts and saddled pigs, are now run by the client instead of by the server.

Sounds

• In addition to previous patches of the 1.9 snapshots, more sounds have been modified. ​^{[more information needed]}

12 issues fixed

From released versions before 1.9

• MC-72340 – Summoning an iron golem riding a zombie makes the zombie blind.

From the 1.9 development versions

• MC-84361 – Ridden pig on a grass path is constantly jumping.
• MC-88403 – Arrows blocked by shield appear first above the player and then in front.
• MC-90202 – Client can always use carrot on a stick, ignoring pig's food state.
• MC-90348 – stat.breakItem.minecraft.shield does not exist.
• MC-90605 – Constant teleporting between the Nether and the Overworld.
• MC-92289 – Extra strongholds spawn in positions Mojang didn't intend.
• MC-92476 – Inventory Duplication Glitch based on uncompleted entity removal.
• MC-94104 – Floating tripwire disappears since 15w50a.
• MC-94169 – Fishing rod bobber collision error (into the block).
• MC-94213 – Snowman/iron golem slight into blocks (descent altitude 0.03125, 1/32 block).
• MC-95416 – Item duplication in multiplayer.

• 16w06a was previously removed from the launcher for some time, but was added back in September 2018.
• The wool in the hotbar in the snapshot cover image when converted into numbers based on the damage value reads "17022016", which appears to be February 17, 2016 — the date that Java Edition 1.9-pre1 was later released.