With no mods, your ability to zoom in Minecraft is limited to the FOV setting, which changes how wide or narrow your character's point of view is.

In the pause menu, click "Options" and you'll see the FOV slider on top.

By default, it will be set to normal, which is numerically set to 70.

By bringing the FOV to 30, your point of view will become much narrower and zoomed in, letting you see further but with minimal peripheral view.

You can see the opposite effect by widening the FOV to a higher number, which lets you see much more to your left and right but makes the distant objects feel even further.

For a more streamlined ability to zoom in-game, you'll need to download a mod.

For Java edition, the mod OptiFine is hosted on Optifine.net, where you can find the latest release under "Downloads."

Make sure you download a version that matches your Minecraft version.

If you don't have it already, you may need to install Java SE to open the mod.

Go to the download page on the Oracle site to grab the latest version and install it on your computer.

With Java installed, go to your OptiFine file and open with Java.

The installer will walk you through a few simple prompts.

Once finished, you'll be prompted to click "OK," which will install OptiFine as a module in the game.

Start the Minecraft launcher, and on the bottom left, confirm OptiFine appears or is selected where it says latest release.

Now in-game, you can confirm your zoom mod is installed by pressing and holding the C key to zoom in and out with a simple press.

If you'd like to change that hotkey, navigate in the game menu to "Options," "Controls," then scroll to the bottom to the miscellaneous section.

Here, you'll find an entry for zoom.

From here, you can select whichever key you prefer to utilize the OptiFine functionality in-game.

If you're running Bedrock, your mod options are smaller.

A recent release called Windows 10 FOV Changer on GitHub will do the trick.

Scroll down on the page to click the direct-download link and open the zip file.

Once unpacked, you may get an error opening the FOV Changer application.

This is because it only works if Minecraft Bedrock is already launched.

With Bedrock open, relaunch the FOV Changer app.

On the left, you should see a start button, and clicking that will produce a series of green check marks to confirm it's running.

With your Minecraft world loaded, pressing the V key by default will activate the FOV Changer function.

To change that hotkey, go into the FOV Changer application and adjust the button under "Features."