Quilt Loader is a Fabric-derived mod loader that runs Quilt mods and most Fabric mods. Quilt's own libraries are retired for current Minecraft versions, so a Quilt setup today is usually Fabric mods and Fabric API on Quilt's loader, with extras such as version-specific mod subfolders.
Quilt is a mod loader for Minecraft: Java Edition built by the Quilt Project, a community effort that forked Fabric in 2021. Its loader, Quilt Loader, runs mods written for Quilt and most mods written for Fabric. That second part is what matters in practice: Quilt's own API libraries have been retired for current Minecraft versions, so a Quilt installation today is mostly Fabric mods and Fabric API running on Quilt Loader.
Quilt Loader has carried a beta label since April 2022, and it's still under active development, with regular releases that pull in Fabric Loader's own changes.
Quilt Loader contains its own copy of Fabric Loader's public API, and even some Fabric internals that mods are known to use. When a Fabric mod asks the loader for something, Quilt answers in Fabric's terms, which is why most Fabric mods load without their authors ever testing on Quilt.
The failures come from mods that depend on behaviour Quilt doesn't reproduce. Quilt keeps a public list of these: OptiFabric, which runs OptiFine on Fabric, never finishes launching, and VulkanMod and Better Loading Screen crash the game. Check that list before blaming a mod for a crash that only happens on Quilt.
Compatibility runs one way. A mod built specifically for Quilt won't load on Fabric, so a mod page listing Quilt as its only loader is a real requirement. Open the jar as an archive if you're unsure: Quilt mods contain quilt.mod.json, Fabric mods fabric.mod.json. Forge and NeoForge mods are out of reach entirely, and the Quilt team has said support for them isn't planned.
The most visible difference is in the mods folder. Quilt Loader searches subfolders by default, so you can group mods into folders such as mods/performance/ without breaking anything. A subfolder whose name starts with a digit is read as a Minecraft version, and its contents only load when you launch that version: name a folder after your game version and everything in it is ignored on any other. One shared folder can hold mod sets for several game versions this way.
When loading goes wrong, Quilt Loader reports it in its own window rather than leaving you with a bare crash, and lists the files involved. That's often enough to spot the culprit without opening the log at all.
Quilt's installer offers a long list of Minecraft releases, reaching back to versions released well before Quilt itself existed. The Download section shows the exact range. The loader isn't rebuilt for each game version: you choose a Minecraft version and a Quilt Loader version separately, and one loader release serves all of them. Loader versions are numbered 0.x on their own schedule, unrelated to Minecraft's numbering.
The installer's list only says where Quilt can start. What actually runs is decided by your mods, which are Fabric or Quilt builds made for one specific Minecraft version, so match each of them to your game exactly, as you would on Fabric.
For its first years Quilt shipped two libraries. The Quilt Standard Libraries (QSL) gave Quilt mods an API of their own, and Quilted Fabric API (QFAPI) re-implemented Fabric API on top of QSL, so Fabric mods got the API they expected from Quilt's code.
Keeping a second implementation of Fabric API level with every Minecraft update proved too much, and most of the work fell on one developer. Quilt's FAQ dates the discontinuation of QSL to December 2025. A February 2026 announcement confirmed that QSL, QFAPI and Quilt Kotlin Libraries won't be updated for new Minecraft versions and are maintained only for older ones. The timing followed Mojang's decision to stop obfuscating Minecraft's code, which also ended the need for Quilt Mappings, the project's other major developer tool. Quilt restructured around the loader, which the same announcement called its flagship.
Quilt's own installation guide still tells you to add the QFAPI bundle, and plenty of third-party tutorials repeat it without mentioning that it was discontinued. Whether the advice applies depends on your Minecraft version. QFAPI only ever reached stable releases for a small band of older versions, a few more got alpha or beta builds, and newer versions have none at all. There, and on the oldest versions Quilt supports, mods that need Fabric API take the regular Fabric API, which isn't on Quilt's incompatible list. The FAQ below gives the exact version ranges.
Install one or the other, never both. On current versions, Fabric API and many Fabric mods declare Fabric as their only loader, so you're running them through Quilt's compatibility layer rather than on a platform their authors target. Most setups won't notice. When a crash does happen, run the same mods on Fabric: if it disappears, report it to Quilt rather than to the mod's author.
Install Quilt when a mod or modpack requires it, or when you want its loader behaviour, such as version subfolders, on top of a Fabric mod list. For most other setups, Fabric runs the same mods on the loader their authors test against. Neither loader makes the game faster on its own. Frame rate and tick speed come from mods such as Sodium and Lithium, whose Fabric builds Quilt can generally load.
Quilt is installed with one installer that handles every supported Minecraft version, so the Quilt Downloads section on this page has a single row. Click Download on it and you continue to the client installation page on quiltmc.org, which offers two builds of the installer:
.exe that borrows the Java bundled with the Minecraft Launcher, so you don't need Java installed..jar for Windows, macOS and Linux, which needs Java 17 or newer on your system.Everything else comes from Modrinth or CurseForge as ordinary mod files: your mods, plus whichever library your Minecraft version needs.
mods folder.%appdata%\.minecraft\mods on Windows, ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft/mods on macOS or ~/.minecraft/mods on Linux. Subfolders are fine, and a folder named after a Minecraft version only loads on that version.Prism Launcher, MultiMC, ATLauncher, the Modrinth App and the CurseForge app can all create Quilt instances without the installer, and quiltmc.org has setup notes for each. For finding and adding mods safely, see our guide to installing Minecraft mods.
Install Quilt for the same Minecraft version and copy your Fabric mods across, Fabric API included on versions without QFAPI. Back up your worlds first. It's a small change for most mod lists, but you're moving to a loader your mods weren't necessarily tested on.
Crash reports on Quilt read much like Fabric's, and our walkthrough on mods that refuse to load explains how to find the mod at fault in one.
No builds match these filters.
No. Quilt Loader is actively developed and keeps pulling in Fabric Loader's changes. What ended is Quilt's own API work: QSL, Quilted Fabric API and Quilt Kotlin Libraries are not being updated for Minecraft 26.1 and later, and are maintained for older versions only.
Most of them. Quilt Loader includes its own implementation of Fabric Loader's API, so Fabric mods usually load unchanged. Quilt publishes a short list of Fabric mods that don't work, including OptiFabric and VulkanMod.
No. A mod built specifically for Quilt runs only on Quilt Loader. When a mod page lists both Fabric and Quilt, its file works on either.
It depends on your Minecraft version. QFAPI has stable releases for 1.19.4 to 1.20.1, only beta or alpha builds for 1.18.2 to 1.19.3 and 1.20.2 to 1.21 (not every patch), and nothing for 1.21.1 or newer, or for anything older than 1.18.2. Everywhere without a QFAPI build, use the regular Fabric API when your mods need it. Install one or the other, not both.
No, and the Quilt team has said support is not planned. Forge and NeoForge mods need their own loaders.
Not through OptiFabric, which is on Quilt's list of incompatible mods. For shaders on a Fabric-style setup, the usual choice is Iris together with Sodium.
Yes. Quilt Loader reads subfolders, and treats a subfolder whose name starts with a digit as a Minecraft version. Mods in mods/1.20.1/ load only when you launch 1.20.1, while mods directly in the folder load on every version.
Yes. Quilt Loader is open source under the Apache License 2.0. Get the installer from quiltmc.org, which is where this page's Download section points, and your mods from Modrinth or CurseForge.
NeoForge is the 2023 fork of Forge that many content mods and modpacks for recent Minecraft versions are built for. You need it when a file says NeoForge. Its version numbers start with the Minecraft version, and apart from one shared version, Forge and NeoForge mods are not interchangeable.
Forge is the long-running Minecraft: Java Edition mod loader behind most classic modpacks, with the longest version history of any loader still maintained. You need it when a mod or pack names Forge, installed for that exact Minecraft version. It doesn't run Fabric or Quilt mods, and shares NeoForge mods on only one Minecraft version.
Fabric is a lightweight modding toolchain for Minecraft. Its main piece, Fabric Loader, is what lets you run Fabric mods, and it usually works on new Minecraft versions within days of release. Most mods also need the separate Fabric API, which you add to your mods folder like any other mod.