How does distance affect the disappearance of items after death?

Question

Could someone please explain the reason items disappear when you die a far distance from spawn?

Do you have any tips on how to reduce item loss? Or any suggestions that stop the items from disappearing all together?

From what I understand so far its due to chunks not loading, or unloading when you are too far away from them. I also understand from another question posted the items to disappear 5 minutes after death. But I'm wanting to know is distance not time.

A general answer would be nice, but what I would really like to know are the numbers. How far exactly do I have from the spawn point until I run the risk of disappearing items? And are there things in single player and/or multiplayer I can do to remove this hazard? Or at the least increase my chances of regaining the items lost on death from a far.

Kevin Yap · Accepted Answer

Dropped items will last for 5 minutes while their chunk is loaded, and then will disappear. While the chunks are unloaded, they will stay idle and the disappear counter won't run.

When playing Minecraft, your world is loaded in chunks - 16x16x128 areas. The nearest 81 chunks are loaded while walking around the world (a 9x9 chunk grid with your chunk in the center). This means that about 80 blocks around you are loaded at all time (give or take a few depending on where in the chunk you currently are). When you are within 80 blocks of an item, it changes from its idle to its active state.

badp · Answer

Dropped items are saved along other information in the chunk save file. So no, you do not risk losing items just because the chunk they have been dropped in has been unloaded (cleanly).

Lulu · Answer

In my time playing this game ut seems as though my items very rarely despawn, ive found items from times I died months ago lol

How does distance affect the disappearance of items after death?

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