Hello Mojang,

I run a very large web-based database for custom heads and came towards a problem recently.

To give an example, here's a syntax example for a custom head for Minecraft 1.16 (and it works, just as an example).

/give @p minecraft:player_head{display:{Name:"{\"text\":\"Mr. Bee\"}"},SkullOwner:{Id:[I;310155025,-1368504991,-1613143890,1937471535],Properties:{textures:[{Value:"eyJ0ZXh0dXJlcyI6eyJTS0lOIjp7InVybCI6Imh0dHA6Ly90ZXh0dXJlcy5taW5lY3JhZnQubmV0L3RleHR1cmUvMTQ0NWMzZGVmNjg5NDI3ZmQ4ZGY4Y2FkODI0YzBhNmI1NTNkNGY4NDdlYjAzNzA1MTk2YTY5YzdlZWQ5NDZhZiJ9fX0="}]}}} 1

Now for the problem:

Recently, a user told me, that one of those custom heads don't work anymore.

And now I wonder why.

Based on this tweet: https://twitter.com/Dinnerbone/status/464414369452142592

I thought those skinfiles are never removed if they're on the Mojang servers once.

So I started a validation on all 40000 custom heads and found some missing textures:

2021-05-15
108 - Coal Block - http://textures.minecraft.net/texture/f6c5ecac942c77b95ab4620df5b85e38064c974f9c5c576b843622806a4557
13969 - Shulker box (red) - http://textures.minecraft.net/texture/6eb911ea94b5a1cf77f3ca637a3b1662b35121bd72e118651184f2fb1060d1
15047 - Compresser - http://textures.minecraft.net/texture/e48337f7ede15c3b2f8dc6a63bd92874cdf74ec862b4118c7e35559ce8b4d
23011 - Flowerpot (red) - http://textures.minecraft.net/texture/c492637703befab9c683d2b0720277f58e12569001737333b1abe6120d4675d1
27499 - Lazer Generator - http://textures.minecraft.net/texture/56a7d2195ff7674bbb12e2f7578a2a63c54a980e64744450ac6656e05a790499
38638 - Lantern (red, pink light) - http://textures.minecraft.net/texture/bb8aae1ae45808c80799393d02a4bffe553e65a3534c1e2c8f80ebec1b4eee2a

At that time, another head was reported, but it worked again one day later. It's not in the list above.

So: To validate things again, I started a second validation on all 40.000 skins today and had the following result:

2021-06-03
20503 - Compressed Sand - http://textures.minecraft.net/texture/2252ff4c8f3ad0bbb65ee992e5db6c2814213ff7a53cfdf43ce4396972a78f46
13969 - Shulker box (red) - http://textures.minecraft.net/texture/6eb911ea94b5a1cf77f3ca637a3b1662b35121bd72e118651184f2fb1060d1
15047 - Compresser - http://textures.minecraft.net/texture/e48337f7ede15c3b2f8dc6a63bd92874cdf74ec862b4118c7e35559ce8b4d
28345 - Composter (filled) - http://textures.minecraft.net/texture/ba1e0770d00bb65b6413d2ecbb0656518a28f9c63c42c021ccbee9c81594f745
30280 - Rose Quartz Earrings - http://textures.minecraft.net/texture/e46c83572b6343051d07d0684ac109e5a0f931acaf48dc37ae70cb3082d44ce1
42225 - Nether Tank Lava 6 - http://textures.minecraft.net/texture/bc2ce9f7bd9f8af3dbbdfe846426accd6491b05aface214f28534499125ab5d2

So here's the problem: Basically, skinfiles are gone from the Mojang servers temporary and reappear later. But why?

What's happening there? I can't guess of any reason beside some kind of file transfer to other servers why this is happening, so please help me out.

The community decorating with those custom heads rely on those heads which never change