Convert Spigot and Vanilla world folders

Vanilla Minecraft keeps all three dimensions inside one world folder. Paper (before Minecraft 26.1) splits the Nether and the End out into folders of their own, and Spigot and CraftBukkit also change the Vanilla layout. If you move a world between the two styles and don't rearrange the folders, the Nether and End look reset, although nothing was lost. The steps below show which layout you have and how to convert it with the File Manager.

Checked against Paper's migration guide and the Minecraft 26.1 release notes, October 2026.

Find your layout

Open the File Manager and look at the top folder.

• world_nether and world_the_end sit beside world: the Bukkit style Paper used before 26.1.
• Only world, with DIM-1 and DIM1 inside it: the Vanilla style, which Fabric and Forge also use before 26.1.
• world has a dimensions folder: Minecraft 26.1 or newer. Vanilla, Paper and the mod loaders all use this layout.

Spigot itself isn't a software option here, but Paper runs Spigot plugins. Paper before 26.1 inherited the Bukkit way of storing worlds, per Paper's 26.1 announcement, and a Spigot world keeps its Nether the same way: when Spigot converts a Vanilla world, its own log line, quoted in Spigot's bug tracker, says to move world_nether/DIM-1 back to world/DIM-1 to restore the Nether. So expect world_nether beside world, and check the list above against what the File Manager shows.

The two older layouts

This table is from Paper's own migration guide. It assumes the world is called world. If yours isn't, use the name shown as World folder in the Config Editor.

Move to Paper from Vanilla

Nothing to do by hand. Paper's guide says the way worlds are stored changes automatically when you replace a Vanilla server with Paper. Switch the software in the JAR Manager (Change your Minecraft version or mod loader).

Convert a Paper or Spigot world to the Vanilla layout

These steps are Paper's own for a Paper world in the Bukkit style, with world_nether and world_the_end beside world. Do them before moving to Vanilla, Fabric or Forge. A Spigot world from another host keeps its Nether in world_nether/DIM-1 (see above), so the same move applies to that folder before you head to 26.1 or newer, although Paper's guide does not spell that out. If the File Manager also shows a DIM1 folder inside world_the_end, move it the same way in step 4. Make a backup first in the Backups tab.

1. On the Console tab, click Stop and wait for Offline.
2. In the File Manager, if you've already started the server on Vanilla once, open world and delete its DIM-1 and DIM1 folders. Paper says this step is only needed in that case.
3. Open world_nether, select the DIM-1 folder and click Move to…. Enter /world as the destination, then type the folder's name, because the folder sits inside a world, and click Move.
4. Open world_the_end and move DIM1 into /world the same way: select it, click Move to…, enter /world, type the folder's name and click Move.
5. Delete the world_nether and world_the_end folders. Type each folder's name to confirm.
6. Switch the software in the JAR Manager, then start the server.

Paper's own steps copy the folders and delete the originals. Move to… does both in one go.

Minecraft 26.1 and newer

Mojang changed how worlds are stored in 26.1. The Overworld moved to dimensions/minecraft/overworld, the Nether from DIM-1 to dimensions/minecraft/the_nether and the End from DIM1 to dimensions/minecraft/the_end. Player files moved into a players folder. Paper moved to the same layout, keeping its own extra data alongside, so Paper and Vanilla no longer differ in where the dimensions live.

Two things follow:

• A Spigot or CraftBukkit world can't go straight onto Paper 26.1. Paper's migration guide says it must be migrated to Vanilla first, then moved over with Paper's From Vanilla steps, and it refers to Spigot's own documentation for the first part.
• Paper to Vanilla needs five files moved. From world/dimensions/minecraft/overworld/data/minecraft/ into world/data/minecraft/: game_rules.dat, scheduled_events.dat, wandering_trader.dat, weather.dat and world_gen_settings.dat. Then switch the software.

If something looks wrong

• The Nether or End looks reset: the server is looking in a different place from where the files are. Stop the server and check the table above against what the File Manager shows.
• The server made a fresh world: level-name doesn't match your world folder. Check World folder in the Config Editor.
• You deleted the wrong folder: restore the backup from the Backups tab (How to create and restore backups).