How to Upload a Minecraft World to a Server

You are uploading a world onto your server — the same way you would upload a plugin JAR, except the file is a whole folder.

The easy path: zip the world on your PC, stop the server, replace the world folder in the panel file manager, start the server, join.

Step 01

Get the world off your PC

Quit the world in Minecraft first. Copying it while it is open can break the save.

1. In the launcher, select the world → Edit → Open World Folder. You should see a file called level.dat inside. That folder is the world.
2. Go up one level so you can see the folder itself (not the files inside it).
3. Either rename the folder to world (easiest — the server already looks for that name) or keep a name you prefer, like Survival. Avoid spaces.
4. Right-click the folder → compress / send to zip. Upload that zip in Step 04.

If you cannot use the launcher button: Windows is %appdata%\.minecraft\saves (Win+R), Mac is ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft/saves, Linux is ~/.minecraft/saves.

Step 02

Stop the server

Open your host’s panel and click Stop. Wait until the status says it is offline. Do not upload while it is running — that corrupts the map.

If you already had a world on this server that you might want back, download the current world folder (and world_nether / world_the_end if they exist) before you delete anything.

Step 03

Move the old world out of the way

In the panel, open Files (or File Manager). You should see server.properties and a folder named world. That world folder is what the server loads as the main map.

Skip this step if you want to keep the current map and add yours beside it — use Multiverse in Step 06 instead.

1. Rename world to world-old (or delete it if you are sure you do not need it).
2. If you also see world_nether and world_the_end, rename or delete those too. Leaving them behind mixes your new Overworld with the old Nether.

Step 04

Upload the zip into the server files

Stay in that same Files view — the folder that contains server.properties. That is the server root. Your world has to land here, not inside plugins or world-old.

1. Upload world.zip.
2. Unzip / extract it in the panel, then delete the zip.
3. Check what you got. You want this:

server.properties
world/
  level.dat
  region/
  …

If you see world/world/level.dat, the zip had an extra folder. Move the inner folder up so level.dat sits directly in world.

If the browser upload fails (common on big worlds), connect with FileZilla using the SFTP details in your panel and drop world.zip in the same place, then unzip it there.

Open server.properties and set level-name to the folder name. If you renamed it to world:

level-name=world

level-name=Survival

Hosts such as Four Seasons Hosting have Files and SFTP on the same panel — see their Minecraft plans if you need a server to upload to.

Step 05

Put the Nether and End where the server expects them

Most Minecraft hosts run Paper. Paper does not look for the Nether inside your world folder. If you skip this, you keep your Overworld and get a new Nether and End.

In Files, open your world folder (world, or whatever you named it). If you see folders named DIM-1 (Nether) and DIM1 (End):

1. Go back to the server root (next to server.properties).
2. Create a folder named <level-name>_nether — so world_nether, or Survival_nether if the world is Survival. Move DIM-1 into it.
3. Create <level-name>_the_end the same way, and move DIM1 into it.

The server root should now look like this (using world as the name):

server.properties
world/              ← your Overworld
world_nether/       ← your Nether
world_the_end/      ← your End

If you copied this world from another Paper server, you already have those three folders — upload all three, and rename them so they match level-name (or the Multiverse world name).

Step 06

Add it as an extra world with Multiverse

Changing level-name replaces the main map. If you want the lobby or survival world to stay, and this upload to be a second world people can teleport to, use Multiverse-Core (the usual world-management plugin on Paper).

1. Leave the existing world folder and level-name=world as they are. Do not do Step 03.
2. Upload your save next to server.properties under its own name, e.g. Survival (with Survival_nether / Survival_the_end if you split them in Step 05).
3. Put the Multiverse-Core JAR in plugins/ if it is not installed already, then start the server.
4. In console or as an operator, import the folder:

   /mv import Survival normal

   Use nether or end instead of normal if that folder is a Nether or End world.
5. Teleport there with /mv tp Survival. List worlds with /mv list.

Multiverse is what you use day to day after the upload: create worlds, import folders, set spawn, and send players between maps. For Nether portals on extra worlds, add Multiverse-NetherPortals so Survival links to Survival_nether instead of the main Nether.

Import only after the files are on the server. The command loads a folder that is already sitting in the server root — it does not upload anything by itself.

Step 07

Start the server and join

1. Click Start in the panel.
2. Watch the console. It should prepare spawn in your world — not generate a world from a seed you never used.
3. Join with the same IP you always use. Walk to a build you know. Go through a Nether portal if you had one.

Your builds are there. Your inventory may be empty — singleplayer and an online server identify you as different players. That is normal. Use whitelist.json if you want to lock the server to certain accounts.

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