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Minecraft guide

How to upload a Minecraft world to your server

Built something in singleplayer, or moving from another host? You can carry on with the same Java Edition world on your own server. The whole world goes up as one zip, and the server puts it in place when it next starts.

Updated 28 October 2026

Find your world

On Windows, singleplayer worlds are in %APPDATA%\.minecraft\saves: press Windows+R, type %appdata%\.minecraft\saves and press Enter. Each world is a folder named after it, holding level.dat and a region folder. You can also open it from the game: select the world, press Edit, then Open World Folder.

On another host, download the world's folder, usually called world. A Paper or Spigot server keeps the Nether and the End in folders of their own beside it, world_nether and world_the_end. Download those too.

Zip it

Zip the world's folder itself, so the zip holds one folder with level.dat inside. On Windows 11, right-click the folder and choose Compress to ZIP file; on Windows 10, Send to, then Compressed (zipped) folder.

For a Paper or Spigot world, select world, world_nether and world_the_end together and zip all three. The server brings the Nether and the End along with the world.

Before you upload

  • Version: set Minecraft version in Settings to the version the world was last played on, or a newer one. Latest is the default. Opening a world on an older version can damage it.
  • Mods: a modded world needs the same loader and mods. Set Server software to Fabric, NeoForge or Forge, and upload the mods to mods/ first. Paper plugins go in plugins/.

Upload it

  1. Upload the zip. In your dashboard, open your server's Files & SFTP tab, choose world-imports/ as the upload folder and press Upload to world-imports. The browser takes files up to 96 MB. For a bigger world, press Generate SFTP credentials and upload the zip to the world-imports folder with FileZilla or WinSCP, up to 16 GB.
  2. Wait for the safety scan. Every upload is scanned before your server gets it. Press Refresh until the zip shows Passed safety scan.
  3. Stop and start the server. Press Stop, then Start. As the server starts, the world in the zip replaces the server's world, and the Console says when it's imported. The next backup keeps it.

Good to know

  • Datapacks in the world's own datapacks folder come with it. To add more, upload them to datapacks/ in Files & SFTP.
  • Upload one zip at a time. If world-imports holds more than one, the server imports none of them and clears the folder.
  • If a zip can't be imported, the server starts with its current world and the Console says why. Fix the zip and upload it again.
Minecraft questions

Good to know.

Will my singleplayer inventory come with the world?

Not by itself. Singleplayer keeps your own player's inventory and position inside level.dat, which a server doesn't use, so you join with an empty inventory at the world's spawn. Everything you built is still there.

What if the zip has more than one world?

The import stops and the server keeps its current world. Zip just the one world's folder (with its _nether and _the_end folders for Paper) and upload it again.

How big can the world be?

Up to 96 MB uploads in the browser, and up to 16 GB over SFTP.