Minecraft wiki entry for Experience, associated text: Gathering experience points from experience orbs increases the player's experience level by gradually filling a bar on the bottom of the screen until a new level is achieved when the bar is full. When the player dies, they drop experience orbs worth 7 * current level experience points, up to a maximum of 100 points (enough to reach level 7), and all of the other experience vanishes. If the gamerule keepInventory is set to true, the experience is kept even if the player dies.