How to upload a world to a Minecraft server

To upload a world to a Minecraft server, stop the server, put the world folder in the server’s main folder, set level-name in server.properties to the folder’s name and start the server again. Two rules keep the world safe: back up first, and make sure the server runs the same Minecraft version as the world or a newer one. The steps work on any host and on a server on your own PC. Version numbers are for Java Edition 26.3, the current release as of October 2026.

What you need

• The world folder, or access to the server it is on now.
• A way into your server’s files: the file manager in your host’s control panel or SFTP, whichever your host offers.
• The Minecraft version the world was last played in.

Step 1: back up both worlds

Back up the world you are moving and the world the server has now.

A singleplayer world. Close the world, then in the Singleplayer list select it, choose Edit and then Make Backup. The game saves a zip of the world in the backups folder next to saves.

A server world. Stopping the server with stop and then copying the world folder is the safest way. If the server has to stay online, use the console:

1. Run save-off. It pauses world writes.
2. Run save-all flush. It writes everything to disk now, with a brief freeze.
3. Copy or download the world folder.
4. Run save-on. Do not skip this one, or the world stops saving.

Step 2: find where singleplayer worlds are stored

Java Edition keeps worlds in the saves folder of its game directory (Minecraft Wiki):

There is a shortcut: in the Singleplayer list, select the world, choose Edit, then Open World Folder. If you use another launcher or a custom game directory, the saves folder is inside that directory instead.

Each world is one subfolder. The right folder is the one with level.dat directly inside it. Close the game before you copy it.

Step 3: zip the world and upload it to the server

1. Copy the world folder to your desktop and give the copy a simple name with no spaces, such as myworld.
2. Compress it into a zip file. On Windows and macOS, right-click the folder and choose the compress option.
3. Stop the server.
4. Upload the zip to the server’s main folder, the one that holds server.properties. Use the file manager or SFTP.
5. Extract the zip there, then delete the zip.

If your host’s file manager cannot extract zip files, upload the folder itself over SFTP, with the connection details from your host’s panel. Browser uploads often have a size limit that differs between hosts, so SFTP also suits a big world.

Step 4: set level-name and restart

Open server.properties and set level-name to the folder’s name:

level-name=myworld

The default is world. The name has to match the folder exactly, capital letters included. If no world exists at that name, the server generates a new one there, which is the usual reason an upload seems to have “not worked”. Every other line is covered in server.properties explained.

Start the server and join. You should see your own builds, not a fresh spawn. If the server says you are not white-listed, run whitelist add with your player name in the console: since 26.3 a new server has the whitelist on by default. If the server fails to start, read logs/latest.log and see Minecraft server won’t start.

The version rule

A world opened in a newer version must not be opened in an older one. Paper’s 26.3 release notes warn that a world upgraded to 26.3 cannot be downgraded to a lower version.

• Server newer than the world: fine. The server upgrades the world when it loads it. That is one-way, so keep the backup.
• Server older than the world: stop. Update the server first.

Watch for this when your game is on the latest release or a snapshot and the server is held back for a plugin or mod that has not updated yet.

Vanilla and Paper world folders

Minecraft 26.1 changed the world layout (Java Edition 26.1 changelog). This matters when a world moves between server software.

• Singleplayer or vanilla to Paper. Upload the folder as it is. Paper changes the storage format automatically on first start.
• Paper to vanilla, 26.1 and later. A few data files have to be moved by hand before vanilla reads the world correctly. Follow Paper’s migration guide step by step.
• Paper 1.21.11 or earlier. Copy all three folders. If you leave world_nether and world_the_end behind, the Nether and the End appear reset.
• Spigot to Paper. Not possible directly from 26.1. Paper’s docs tell you to migrate to vanilla first.
• Modded worlds. Install the same mod loader and mods on the server before the first start. A world contains blocks and items that only those mods understand. See how to install mods on a Minecraft server.

Move a world from another host

1. On the old host, stop the server and download the world folder through its file manager or SFTP. On Paper 1.21.11 or earlier, take all three world folders.
2. Write down the old server’s software and version.
3. On the new host, pick the same software and the same version. Move first, update later: then nothing has to be converted during the move.
4. Upload the world and set level-name as in steps 3 and 4.
5. Copy what else you want to keep: server.properties, whitelist.json, ops.json, the ban lists, and plugins/ or mods/ with config/.

Check the world’s size against the new plan’s storage before you start. On Severoo, a free Minecraft server has up to 20 GB of NVMe SSD storage. Our guide to making a free Minecraft server covers the setup before the upload.

Bedrock worlds

Bedrock Edition stores worlds in a different format from Java Edition, so a Bedrock world needs a Bedrock server. A crossplay server that uses Geyser is a Java server and needs a Java world. See Java and Bedrock crossplay.

To get a Bedrock world out of the game:

• Windows: worlds are in %appdata%\Minecraft Bedrock\Users\<user ID>\games\com.mojang\minecraftWorlds. The folder names are random characters. Open levelname.txt inside a folder to see which world it is. You can also open the world’s edit screen and use Export World at the bottom, which saves a .mcworld file. The Minecraft Wiki lists that button as Windows only.
• Phones and tablets: the Wiki’s steps use no export button here. You copy the world’s folder out of minecraftWorlds with the device’s file manager. The Minecraft Wiki’s import and export tutorial has the steps for each device.

On Bedrock Dedicated Server, Microsoft’s instructions are:

1. Start the server once so it creates its folders, then stop it.
2. Copy the world folder into the server’s worlds folder.
3. Rename it to something simple with no special characters.
4. Set level-name in server.properties to that name. The default is Bedrock level. Capital letters must match.
5. Start the server.

To back up a running Bedrock server, run save hold, repeat save query until it lists the files, copy them, then run save resume.

What commonly goes wrong

• A fresh world loads. level-name does not match, or the world is nested one folder too deep.
• The Nether and the End are reset. world_nether and world_the_end from an older Paper server were not copied.
• The server will not start after the upload. The server is older than the world, or mods the world needs are missing.