Minecraft autosave versus backups

Autosave and backups both write your world to disk, which is why people treat them as the same thing. They protect against different problems. Autosave keeps the running server's files up to date. A backup keeps an older copy you can go back to.

Checked against the Minecraft Wiki's save command pages and the PaperMC configuration reference, October 2026.

What autosave does

The server saves its world to its own files while it runs. What it saves is the world as it stands, so a griefed build or a deleted chest is saved just like everything else.

On Paper, the interval comes from ticks-per.autosave in bukkit.yml. The PaperMC documentation gives the default as 6000 ticks, which is 5 minutes at 20 ticks a second, and says -1 turns it off. A per-world value, chunks.auto-save-interval in config/paper-world-defaults.yml, falls back to that number while it stays at default. Open either file in the File Manager, edit it and restart. You rarely need to change them.

What a backup does

A backup is a copy of the server's files at one moment, kept alongside older ones. It protects against what autosave cannot:

• griefing or an accidental deletion
• a world that fails to load after a crash
• a plugin or version change that breaks something
• a mistake in a config file

How to create and restore backups covers the Backups tab in full. The points that matter here:

• Your plan includes a number of backup slots. With Overwrite oldest when full on (the default), a new backup replaces the oldest unprotected one once you reach your limit.
• Protect keeps a backup from being replaced. Protect the one taken before a big change.
• Restoring puts back every file in the backup and loses anything done since.

Save before you back up

A backup copies the files on disk, so it holds what has been saved so far. Before a manual backup, open the Console and run:

save-all flush

The Minecraft Wiki says this writes all player and chunk data to disk immediately, freezing the server for a short time. Plain save-all saves players straight away but queues chunks to be written gradually. Then press Create backup on the Backups tab.

A routine that covers both

1. Leave autosave on its default.
2. If you have no backup schedule yet, use the Schedule a weekly backup button in the Automatic backups section of the Backups tab. It opens the Schedules tab with a weekly Create a backup task ready to save, and you can change the day, time or frequency before you save it. Once a schedule exists, that section lists your schedules instead. The Manage schedules button at the top of the section is there either way.
3. Create a backup by hand before updates, new plugins or mods, and edits to config files. To give it a name you will recognise, open the menu on the Create backup button, choose Create with options... and fill in Backup name (optional).
4. Download the backups you most want to keep with the Download button on its row. A downloaded file sits on your own computer, so replacing the oldest backup on the server does not remove it.