Your world is the one thing you cannot rebuild if it is lost. Back it up before you change versions, install mods or plugins, or reset it. This guide covers backing up, restoring and starting a new world on a Minecraft Java server, with notes for Bedrock.
Where your world is stored
On Java, the world is a folder in the main server folder, next to server.properties. Open Files to see it. Its name is the World name setting, which is world unless you changed it. See Minecraft server properties explained.
On Paper, Purpur, Spigot and Folia the Nether and the End can sit in two more folders named after the world with _nether and _the_end on the end, for example world_nether. Newer versions may keep them inside the world folder instead. A backup copies all of them.
Inside the world folder, level.dat holds the world's settings and the other folders hold the terrain and the players.
On the Bedrock server type, worlds are in the worlds folder, one folder per world, and the active one is named by Choose World under Settings, then Game Settings. Pocketmine is a different server type and has no Choose World. Its world is named by World name under Settings, then Server Properties (PocketMine).
To see every world on a Java server, open Modding, then the Worlds tab, then Your worlds. The active world has a badge. The panel lists the folders that contain a level.dat.
Make a backup
A panel backup copies the whole server folder, so the world, your plugins or mods and your settings are all included.
Make sure the world is saved. Either stop the server and wait for Offline, or, on a Java server that is running, open the Console tab, type save-all and press Enter. The Console answers that the game was saved. For Bedrock, stop the server first.
Click Backups in the left menu.
Under Create backup, leave Type on Files, give it a Name, and click Start backup.
When it finishes, open the ... menu of the backup and choose Download to keep a copy on your computer.
The Backups page holds 3 slots by default. Delete an old backup or turn on Delete the oldest backup if there is no room if you are full, and use Lock on the ones you want to keep. See How to create, download and restore backups for scheduling and limits. Do not guess an ignore pattern: a wrong one can leave your world out of the backup.
Restore a backup
A restore replaces your server's files with the backup. Anything changed since, including builds and new players, is lost. Take a fresh backup of the current state first if you may want it back.
On the Backups page, open the ... menu of the backup and choose Restore to server.
Read the warning. The server stops, players are disconnected and the panel is locked until the restore finishes. Leave Delete files that are not in the backup on unless you are recovering a single file.
Click Restore backup, then start the server and check the Console.
Reset your world and start a new one
A reset deletes the world, so your players start again. Everything in the world is lost: every build, chest, player inventory, the Nether and the End, advancements and statistics. Your plugins, mods, server.properties, operators, whitelist and bans stay, but data that plugins keep about the old world, such as homes, may now point to places that no longer exist.
Back up and download your world as above. If you may want it again, this is the only copy.
Decide the settings for the new world while you are here. World seed, World type, Generate structures and Hardcore are only used when a world is created, so set them now under Settings, then Server Properties (Java) and click Save only. Leave World seed empty for a random world.
Stop the server and wait for Offline.
Open Files. Tick the world folder and, if they exist, the matching _nether and _the_end folders. Click Delete.
Start the server. It builds a brand new world with the settings you chose, which can take a minute.
Do not delete server.properties, ops.json, whitelist.json or the plugins and mods folders unless you mean to.
Keep the old world and start a new one beside it
Instead of deleting, you can change World name to a name with no folder, for example world2, then restart. The server creates a new world there and leaves the old one on disk, unloaded. Set the name back to return to the old one. The old world still takes up disk space. Delete it from Files or from the Worlds tab once you are sure.
Back up and restore work the same way. These steps are for the Bedrock type. To start a new world, type a new folder name in Choose World, then restart. If no folder has that name, the server creates a world there. Edit the setting in the panel and not level-name in the file, because the file value is reset at every start. On a Pocketmine server, change World name in Server Properties (PocketMine) instead.
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