How to upload your own Minecraft world

You can bring a world you built in single player, or one from another host, onto your PlayNHost server. The steps differ a little for Java and Bedrock, and for Java they depend on the version the world was last saved in. If you are moving from another host, this page is the part that puts the world in place after you have downloaded it. See How to move your existing server to PlayNHost.

Uploading a world to a server that already has one means choosing which to keep. The steps below delete the world that is there now. Back it up first if you want to keep it. See How to back up, restore and reset your Minecraft world.

Before you start

1. Make sure the server runs the same edition as the world, Java or Bedrock. A world from one edition does not load in the other.
2. Know the Minecraft version your world was last played in. The server must run that version or a newer one. An older server cannot open a world a newer game saved. To change the server version, see How to change your Minecraft version or server type.
3. Put your world in a ZIP file on your computer. Zip the world folder itself, so that opening the ZIP shows one folder with the world files inside it. If instead the ZIP shows level.dat straight away, first create an empty folder in Files with Create Directory, then upload and unzip the ZIP inside that folder, so the world files do not spill into the main server folder.

What a Java world looks like

A Java world is one folder. Inside it you should see a file called level.dat, together with other folders. The level.dat file must sit directly inside the folder, not one level deeper. In a single player world it sits in the saves folder of your Minecraft folder, under the name you gave the world.

Older worlds (before Minecraft 26) keep the Nether and the End as folders called DIM-1 and DIM1 inside the world folder. Paper, Purpur and Spigot keep them in separate folders next to the world, with the endings _nether and _the_end. Newer worlds keep every dimension inside the world folder, in a folder called dimensions.

Upload a Java world

1. In the panel, open your server, click Stop and wait for Offline.
2. Clear the default world. Your server may already have a world folder. Back it up if you want it, then open Files and delete it, along with world_nether and world_the_end if they exist. Everything in them is lost. If you upload over it, files with the same name are overwritten and the rest stay, so two worlds are mixed and the result may not load.

3. Upload your world. Folders cannot be dragged into Upload.

   • ZIP: click Upload in the Files tab and choose your ZIP, then tick it and click Unzip.
   • SFTP: for a large world, connect with an SFTP program and copy the folder. See How to connect to your server files with SFTP.
4. Check the result in Files. The world folder should sit in the main folder next to server.properties, with level.dat directly inside it. If you see a folder of the same name inside it, move the inner one up and delete the empty outer one.
5. If the world has separate _nether and _the_end folders and your server is Vanilla, Fabric, Forge or NeoForge, those folders will not be used. On a version before 26, copy the DIM-1 folder from the _nether folder and the DIM1 folder from the _the_end folder into your main world folder. For newer worlds, see the section below.
6. Tell the server which world to load. Open Settings, then Server Properties (Java), set World name to the folder's name, and click Save only. For Paper, Purpur and Spigot use the main folder name only, not the ones ending in _nether or _the_end.
7. Start the server and watch the Console for errors, then join and look for your builds. If you find a new empty world, the name does not match: it is case sensitive.

There is a shortcut for step 6. Open Modding, then Worlds, then Your worlds. The panel lists every folder with a level.dat. Open the menu of yours and choose Make this the active world. It takes effect the next time the server starts.

If your folder name has special characters or accents and the panel cannot use it, rename the folder in Files to plain letters and numbers.

Worlds from Minecraft 26 and newer

Minecraft changed how worlds are laid out. A world saved by Vanilla, Fabric, Forge or NeoForge loads on Paper, which converts it. The other direction is the risky one: a world saved by Paper, Purpur or Spigot on a new version may not load on Vanilla or a mod loader, and the server can refuse to start. If that happens, check the server type matches the one your world came from, or open a ticket and tell us where the world was made. Nothing in your world is harmed by a failed start.

Upload a Bedrock world

These steps are for the Bedrock server type. Pocketmine is a different server type: it has no Choose World option, and its world name is set in Server Properties (PocketMine). Check the PocketMine documentation for the world formats it accepts before you upload a world to it.

On Bedrock the world goes inside the worlds folder, in a folder of its own.

1. Stop the server and wait for Offline. If there is no worlds folder in Files yet, start the server once, let it finish starting, and stop it again.
2. On your computer, find the world. Its folder should contain a db folder, a level.dat file and a levelname.txt file. Single player worlds sit under cryptic folder names, and levelname.txt inside each shows the name you gave the world. A .mcworld export is a ZIP archive: unpack it into a folder first.
3. Rename the world folder to something plain, such as MyWorld, and avoid special characters.
4. Upload the folder (as a ZIP then Unzip, or over SFTP) into the worlds folder.
5. Open Settings, then Game Settings, and type the folder name into Choose World. It must match exactly, including capital letters. Do not edit level-name in the file: it is reset at every start.
6. Start the server and join.

If the world will not load

See How to open a support ticket.