ERC-1155

What problem ERC-1155 solves

ERC-20 handles fungible tokens (every unit identical, like a currency). ERC-721 handles non-fungible tokens (each one unique, like an ID card). But many real applications need both:

• Games — currencies (gold, gems) and unique items (specific weapons, character NFTs) in one ecosystem.
• Marketplaces with editioned items — limited editions where there are 100 of "Sword of X" but only 1 of "Sword of Y."
• Bundled assets — collections that mix fungible and non-fungible elements.

Before ERC-1155, building these required deploying separate contracts for each token type. ERC-1155 lets a single contract manage many token types — fungible, non-fungible, semi-fungible — at lower deployment and gas costs.

How it differs from ERC-20 and ERC-721

The key differences:

• Multiple token types in one contract. A single ERC-1155 contract has potentially thousands of distinct tokens, each identified by an ID.
• Each token can be fungible or non-fungible. Token ID 1 might have a supply of 1,000,000 (fungible like a currency); token ID 2 might have a supply of 1 (non-fungible like an NFT); token ID 3 might have a supply of 100 (semi-fungible like a limited edition).
• Batch operations. Transferring multiple tokens or token types in one transaction is supported natively, saving gas.
• More compact metadata. A single URI template can serve metadata for all tokens in the collection.

Where it's used

The standard's largest use cases:

• Gaming. Most major Ethereum-based games (Axie Infinity originally, Gods Unchained, many newer titles) use ERC-1155 for in-game items.
• Editions and limited prints. NFT platforms like Manifold and Zora support ERC-1155 for editioned drops where multiple copies of a piece exist.
• OpenSea storefronts. OpenSea's "Collection Manager" (now retired) issued NFTs as ERC-1155 by default.
• Wrapped multi-asset products. Some DeFi protocols use ERC-1155 to represent positions or shares in multi-asset pools.

Trade-offs vs. ERC-721

ERC-1155 is more efficient and flexible, but has costs:

• Less infrastructure support. Some marketplaces, indexers, and tools have weaker ERC-1155 support than ERC-721. The gap has narrowed but isn't closed.
• Different metadata standards. Each token's metadata typically uses a URI template with {id} substitution; tooling has to handle this correctly.
• Display ambiguity. A "10 of edition" ERC-1155 token displays differently across platforms — sometimes as "you own 10 copies," sometimes as "you own #1 through #10," sometimes confusingly.
• Provenance differences. Each ERC-721 has a clean ownership history; ERC-1155 fungible tokens don't track per-unit provenance.

For unique 1-of-1 collectibles, ERC-721 remains dominant. For game items, editions, and bundled assets, ERC-1155 is the better fit.

Variants and successors

A few related developments:

• ERC-1155 Royalty Standard (ERC-2981 compatibility) — adds royalty information to ERC-1155 tokens.
• ERC-6909 — a proposed simpler, more gas-efficient multi-token standard. Adoption is early.
• ERC-721A — Azuki's gas-optimized ERC-721 implementation, popular for large mints. Doesn't directly compete with ERC-1155 but addresses some of the same scale problems.

The ERC-1155 standard remains the canonical answer when an application genuinely needs multi-token support in a single contract.

Authors

ERC-1155 was authored primarily by Witek Radomski (Enjin co-founder) along with collaborators. The proposal originated in 2018 to address gaming use cases that didn't fit neatly into ERC-20 or ERC-721. Enjin remains active in the standards space; Witek's involvement reflects the gaming-driven origin of the standard.