Minecraft: Move Your Singleplayer World to Your Server

Minecraft Java keeps each singleplayer world in its own folder inside saves:

• Windows: press Win+R, paste %appdata%\.minecraft\saves, and press Enter.

• macOS: in Finder, press Cmd+Shift+G, paste ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft/saves, and press Return.

• Linux: open ~/.minecraft/saves.

Each folder is one world, usually named the way it appears in your singleplayer list. A renamed world keeps its original folder name, so if nothing matches, sort the folders by date modified and take the one you played last. If you play through a modpack launcher (CurseForge, Prism, Modrinth App, and similar), every instance has its own saves folder; use the launcher's open-folder option to get there. Played on a friend's LAN world? The folder is on the PC that hosted it.

Right-click the world's folder and compress it: Compress to ZIP file on Windows 11, Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder on Windows 10, Compress on macOS. Zip the entire folder, not a subfolder like region; that is the usual cause of the "No Minecraft world found" error below.

• The upload accepts ZIP, RAR, 7Z, or TAR.GZ, up to 10 GB.

• Your world can be anywhere in the ZIP, however many folders deep: a whole .minecraft folder, a launcher instance or a server's Docker volume all work.

• You can also skip zipping and drag the world folder straight into the upload box; your browser packages it for you (up to 2 GB, zip bigger worlds yourself).

• One world per archive is simplest. If your upload holds more than one world, we import the one your server.properties names (level-name). Without a server.properties we import the most recently saved world, and the server card tells you which worlds we skipped. The other worlds, and a server's plugins folder, are not imported: add those with the Files card after the upload.

• A Paper or Spigot server keeps the Nether and End in folders named after the world, such as world_nether and world_the_end. Upload them in one ZIP together with the world folder. We import only the Nether and End folders whose names match the world, so a server with several worlds never gets another world's Nether.

• Played with mods or a modpack? Install the same modpack (or the same mods) on your server first, from the Mods card, and set Server Software on the Overview card's Basic tab to the mod loader the world was played with, then upload just the world folder (in your launcher, it is in the instance's saves folder). Starting a modded world without its mods removes the modded blocks and items for good. A world that has a mod's own dimension cannot start without that mod at all, so we refuse it on a server without mods.

• If your world uses a datapack that adds a dimension, keep the datapack in the world's datapacks folder when you upload it.

On a server you already have:

1. Power down the server; the upload button stays disabled while it runs.

2. Open the Backups card and click Upload World.

3. Drop your zip into the box and confirm the upload (Upload and replace world; on a server that has never started, the button reads Upload world). Your current world is saved to Backups first as "Backup before world upload", so you can restore it any time.

4. Wait for the import to finish, then power up.

Creating a new server instead? Switch on Upload Existing World during setup and drop the same zip there; the server starts on your world. Progress tracking, interrupted uploads, and retries are covered in Upload an existing world to your server.

Everything inside the world folder transfers: the Nether and the End, any data packs in the world's datapacks folder, and the per-player files Minecraft keeps there (inventory, ender chest, advancements). Your character comes with it as long as the world was played on a regular Minecraft account, because singleplayer stores that file under the same account ID your server uses.

Singleplayer keeps the Nether and the End inside the world folder (as DIM-1 and DIM1; worlds saved on Minecraft 26.1 or later keep them under dimensions/minecraft instead), while some server software keeps them as sibling folders like world_nether and world_the_end. The importer handles every one of these layouts, so a singleplayer zip just works. If you are moving a world from another server where the dimensions are separate folders, zip them together with the main world folder.

World names with dots, like Survival 1.21.4, and names with accented or non-Latin letters, like Mundo de Ñandú, work as they are. A world saved by Paper 26.1 or newer also starts on Vanilla, Fabric, Forge and NeoForge, with its seed, game rules and time of day.

If your world has no level.dat, or its level.dat is damaged, but it has level.dat_old (for example, after a copy that missed level.dat), we use level.dat_old as the world's level.dat, and the server card says so. It is from the save before the last one, so a few details, such as the time of day, can be slightly older. If you have a file named like level (1).dat, rename it to level.dat and upload the world again.

One caveat: a world played in offline mode (a cracked launcher, or a server with offline mode on) stores its player files under different IDs, so those characters will not match up on an online-mode server, which is the default. Turning on Enable Offline Mode on the Overview card's Details tab makes them line up again; read the warning it shows before you do. Worlds played on an offline-mode launcher (such as TLauncher) still import, and when this applies the dashboard warns you during the import, for worlds saved on Minecraft 26.1 and newer too.

This appears in the red block on your server card after the upload, with what your file held. The importer finds your world by its level.dat file, which sits at the top of every world folder, however deep the folder is in your upload. This error means it found no world, which almost always means the wrong thing was uploaded:

• only the world's region folder, or a world folder without its level.dat;

• a modpack or its files (mods and settings), or a server's files without its world folder;

• building files (.schem, .litematic), or a save from a console edition;

• a level.dat that was renamed, such as level (1).dat.

If your file holds only a server's settings files, mods or plugins, or logs, the card shows a different message: it names what it found and says where it belongs. Your server's settings, operators and whitelist are on its Overview card, and Bukkit, Spigot, Paper and Purpur settings files go on your server with its Files card.

Upload the world folder itself: in the game it is the folder named after the world in .minecraft/saves; on a server it is the folder named by level-name in server.properties (usually world). If your world folder has no level.dat at all, close Minecraft, check that level.dat is in the world folder on your computer (OneDrive and iCloud can keep it online only), then zip the folder again. Send the new zip with Choose another file on the server card. Nothing on your server changed.

The upload stops before anything on your server changes, and the message says why:

• A Minecraft Bedrock world (it has a db folder and a levelname.txt file) cannot run on a Java server. Upload it to a Bedrock server, or convert it to a Java world first with a converter such as Chunker.

• Only world_nether or world_the_end, even renamed or zipped from inside, is not a world on its own: upload the world folder with them.

• A world with a level.dat but no region folder, or with empty files (0 bytes, which happens with OneDrive or iCloud files that are online only), is refused. Keep the world folder on your computer, close Minecraft, then zip the folder again and upload it.

On the first start after an upload, the server checks that your world will load. If the world folder is missing its level.dat, the start stops and says the world you uploaded is not on the server: upload your world again, then start the server. If a catalog world on the Worlds tab of the Mods card would load instead of yours, the start stops and names it: remove it from the Worlds tab, then start the server again.

The seed travels inside the world, so an uploaded world keeps the seed it was made with. Type seed in your server's Console card while it is running; it answers with the seed of the world currently loaded. After an upload, World Seed on the expanded Overview card's Basic tab shows the same number once the server has started with your world, with a copy button and New World beside it for a new world from another seed. Restoring a backup works the same way: the restored world's seed shows after the next start.

Before a server has a world, that field is an editable box instead: enter any text or number and Minecraft generates the world from it. It stays editable on a server created with Upload Existing World as well, up until the first start, but it has no effect there; your uploaded world keeps its own seed.

Minecraft upgrades a world from an older version automatically. Going the other way, loading a world in an older version than it was last played on, is not supported by Minecraft and can corrupt the world; that is a Minecraft rule, not something we control. Your server stays on the release it was created with until you move it yourself, so this only matters when your server sits on an older release (installed mods pin it there) or the world comes from a snapshot. If the world was saved with a newer Minecraft version than your server's Game Version, or with a snapshot, the server card tells you which Game Version to set (on the Overview card's Basic tab) before you start it. A world from before Minecraft 1.2 has to be converted once: set Game Version to 1.17.1, start the server, then set the version you want. Once the upload finishes, Game Version follows the uploaded world, not the one it replaced: it offers every release from the one your world was last saved with, so an older world can go straight onto its own release. See Minecraft: versions, updates, and "Outdated server" errors.

Reach us on Discord or at support@haptic.gg. Include your server name and a screenshot of the error shown on your server card or under the upload box.