How long do dropped items stay on the ground?

[.martin 6]

Does a dropped item such as a weapon stay on the ground forever (until a server reset or something), or will it disappear? If it disappears, how long does it usually take?

[thisisbleep 32]

Be careful when dropping items because they can fall through the floor, so it is always smarter to use an existing loot pile or drop something which you are able to lose first.

I cannot answer your question though I am afraid, it would probably stay indefinitely or until a server reset if a player was close enough the whole time. If no-one was present it might despawn after a certain number of minutes with the other loot piles.

[soapmak3r 677]

They stay for ages. I died and spawned a few other places, played for a while, got killed and eventually respawned near my body...Went there on a whim and found that basically all my gear was still there.

It was lying there for a good couple of hours.

[thorgold 91]

Tents: 7 days (reset on use)

Cars: 2 days (reset on use)

Loot piles: 30 minutes

Player bodies: 15 minutes

Zombies: 5 minutes

[Igor (DayZ) 96]

Tents: 7 days (reset on use)

Cars: 2 days (reset on use)

Loot piles: 30 minutes

Player bodies: 15 minutes

Zombies: 5 minutes

Thank you for the great information!