You can move a Minecraft server to a newer version, or to a different server type such as Vanilla, Paper or Fabric, with the Edit Server Type button in the panel, which opens the Change server type window. This is also how you change the Minecraft version, because the version is installed together with the server software.
Changing the server type or version reinstalls the server, and by default it deletes the server's files, including your world, your plugins or mods and your settings. Take a backup first and download it. See How to back up, restore and reset your Minecraft world.
What the default deletes
With the clean-start box ticked, which is the default, everything in your server's folder is deleted and the new software is installed on an empty server. You lose:
the world folders, with every build, chest and player inventory
server.properties and every other settings file, so your Message of the day, difficulty and similar settings go back to their starting values
the plugins or mods folders, with the plugins' own settings and data
the operator, whitelist and ban lists
The panel saves a safety backup of the world first when your plan has room for one. The Backups page holds 3 slots by default, so delete an old backup beforehand if the list is full. Do not rely on the safety copy alone. Make your own backup and download it.
Change the type or version
Warn your players. They are disconnected while the server reinstalls.
Back up and download your world.
Open your server in the panel and stay on the Overview page.
Click Edit Server Type. Only the server owner can use it. If you do not see the button, you are signed in with a role that cannot change the server.
Type: choose the server type. The window lists the types in groups (game plus server features, just the game, mods, mods and plugins together, proxies and your own jar), each with a short description. Click Next step. If you only want a new version, choose the type you already run.
Version: choose the version. The window shows your current version. It warns that once a world has been upgraded to a higher version it cannot be downgraded. Under Show advanced options you may see Build and Java runtime. Leave them on what the panel picks unless support told you otherwise.
Review: read the summary. Tick or untick Delete my existing files and start clean (recommended), which is ticked by default, and tick the box that says you understand the server is reinstalled. Click Change server type.
When it finishes, open the Console, wait for the server to start and check for errors, then join to test.
If you choose the type and version your server already runs, the wizard blocks it, because it would only reinstall.
Keep your world
To keep your world, untick the clean-start box on the review step. The files stay on the server and the new software is installed over them. This is the usual way to move to a newer version of the same type. Be aware that:
The old type's jars, mods and plugins stay behind and the new type may trip over them. Remove the ones that do not belong.
A world saved by one type may not load under another. If the server will not start, restore your backup and see the next section.
Plugins and mods must support the new version. Update or remove the ones that do not.
Paper, Purpur and Folia versus Vanilla, Fabric and Forge
Paper, Purpur, Folia and Spigot save a world in a different layout from Vanilla, Fabric, Quilt, Forge and NeoForge. From Minecraft 26 on, the two families cannot open each other's worlds as they are. When you keep your files, the panel converts the world where it can and stops with an explanation where it cannot. Nothing is deleted by that conversion.
Moving from Vanilla to Paper is the easy direction. Moving a world that Paper saved to Vanilla or a mod loader is the one to be careful with, so take a backup first.
You cannot go back to an older version
A world cannot be opened by an older Minecraft version than the one that last saved it. If you choose an older version than your world was last saved in, the panel stops and says Nothing was changed: your world is at risk. It offers three buttons:
Start clean instead deletes the files and installs the older version on an empty server.
Keep my files and install anyway installs it, and the server may not start.
Choose another version takes you back to pick again.
On a Paper server, Auto-update server under Settings, then Game Settings, installs newer builds of the Minecraft version you already run each time the server starts. It never changes the Minecraft version and does not touch your world or plugins, so you do not need Edit Server Type for it. Changing the Minecraft Version value in Game Settings does not install that version by itself. Use Edit Server Type.
Try a type without risking your world
Instances let one server keep more than one setup, each with its own files. You can create a second instance with another type, try it, and switch back to your main one at any time. See How to use instances to switch between worlds.
Bedrock and Java
Bedrock servers only offer Bedrock types (Bedrock and Pocketmine), and Java servers only offer Java types. The two editions use different worlds and different clients, so you cannot turn one into the other. To run both, order a second server.
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