How to download your Minecraft server world

To download your world, compress the world folder into an archive in the file manager, download the archive, and extract it on your computer. You can then keep it as a backup or play it in singleplayer.

Download the world#

1. In the console, run save-all so everything in memory is written to disk. For a fully consistent copy, stop the server instead.
2. Open the file manager in the server root.
3. Select the world folder (world by default, or whatever level-name is set to). On Paper, also select world_nether and world_the_end if you want the other dimensions.
4. Compress the selection into an archive.
5. Download the archive file.
6. Delete the archive from the server afterwards so it does not use up disk space.

Compressing first matters: downloading a world one file at a time is slow and a world can contain thousands of files. If your disk is nearly full, there may not be room for the archive; delete old archives or unused worlds first.

Open it in singleplayer#

1. Extract the archive on your computer.
2. Move the world folder into your Minecraft saves folder:

3. Launch the same or a newer Minecraft version and the world appears in the singleplayer list.

Paper worlds in singleplayer

Singleplayer expects the Nether and End inside the world folder. To bring them over from a Paper server:

• Copy world_nether/DIM-1 into world/ so you have world/DIM-1.
• Copy world_the_end/DIM1 into world/ so you have world/DIM1.

Without this step, the overworld loads fine but the Nether and End are regenerated as new. See Nether and End folders on Paper vs Vanilla.

Backups vs downloads#

Downloading is a great off-site copy, but you do not need to do it every day. Schokr also has backups and snapshots for quick restores on the server itself. See back up your Minecraft world.

Download failed or archive is huge?#

• Large worlds take a while to compress. Wait for it to finish before downloading.
• If the world is bigger than expected, players may have explored far out. A world border and trimming unused chunks keep size under control.
• Map and dynmap-style plugins can store large tile caches in their plugin folders, not in the world. Those are not needed for the world itself.

Tip: for large uploads, you can also use an SFTP client like FileZilla. See how to connect with SFTP.