Abstract: Bedding structure is a common natural defect in coal mass, which exerts a remarkable influence on its mechanical properties and energy evolution laws. This study focuses on mechanical characteristics and energy dissipation rules of coal specimens with bedding planes under uniaxial compression. Uniaxial compression tests were conducted on coal samples with different bedding dip angles using an MTS testing system, and key data including stress-strain curves and energy variations were monitored. The results show that the bedding dip angle has a prominent effect on the mechanical properties of bedded coal. With the increase of bedding dip angle, the peak strength and axial peak strain of coal samples present a U-shaped trend of decreasing first and then increasing, reaching the maximum at 0° and the minimum at 60°. In terms of energy dissipation, the input energy, elastic strain energy and dissipated energy all rise with the increase of strain. For specimens under parallel loading (0° bedding angle), elastic strain energy dominates at the early stage; the failure of bedding planes at the later stage leads to a sharp rise of dissipated energy, while the input energy keeps increasing. For oblique loading at 30° and 45°, shear stress triggers early slippage along bedding planes, so dissipated energy grows preferentially, the accumulation of elastic strain energy is restricted, and the input energy fluctuates. For vertical loading at 60° and 90°, the coal mass behaves relatively homogeneous in the initial stage with slow energy accumulation; concentrated damage occurs in the later stage, accompanied by drastic energy changes. Parameters such as deformation modulus and Poisson’s ratio of bedded coal also vary regularly with bedding dip angle change and loading process. Bedding planes affect the mechanical properties of coal mass through weakening effect, anisotropic manifestation and deformation coordination effect. Since energy dissipation is closely correlated with failure modes, it can be adopted as an indicator to judge the failure characteristics of coal mass.