# How to Upload a Custom World to Your Minecraft Server

> Move a singleplayer world, or a downloaded map, onto your Beacon server.

Source: https://www.beaconhosting.org/knowledgebase/how-to-upload-a-custom-world-to-your-minecraft-server
Category: Minecraft
Last updated: 2026-11-05

## 1. Find the world

For a singleplayer world, open your game's `saves` folder (in the Minecraft Launcher: **Installations** → folder icon → `saves`). Each folder there is a world. A downloaded map is usually a `.zip` with a world folder inside.

The world folder is the one that contains `level.dat`.

## 2. Zip it

Zip the world folder on your computer. One zip uploads much faster than thousands of small files.

## 3. Upload it

1. In **Console**, click **Stop**.
2. Go to **Backups** and create a backup of the current world.
3. In **Files**, delete or rename the current `world` folder (and `world_nether` and `world_the_end` on Paper).
4. Upload your zip, and use **Extract here** on it.
5. Rename the extracted folder to `world`, or set `level-name` in `server.properties` to its name.
6. Make sure `level.dat` is directly inside it, not one folder deeper.
7. Click **Start**.

> [!TIP]
> For big worlds, SFTP is faster than the browser: see [How to Configure an SFTP Client](/knowledgebase/how-to-configure-an-sftp-client-for-minecraft).

## Paper and the Nether and End

Singleplayer keeps the Nether and End inside the world folder (`DIM-1`, `DIM1`). Paper keeps them in separate folders. Paper moves them across automatically on the first start; nothing to do.

## Versions

Run the server on the **same or a newer** Minecraft version than the world was last played on. Opening a world on an older version can break it.