Move a Realms world to your server

A Java Edition Realms world can be downloaded to your computer as a singleplayer world, zipped and imported on your server with the World Import tab. Mojang says a Realm's worlds stay available to download for 18 months after the subscription ends, but download yours sooner rather than later.

Checked against Minecraft 26.3, October 2026.

Before you start

• Java only. Our servers run Java Edition. Bedrock Edition stores worlds in a different format from Java Edition, so a world from a Bedrock Realm has to be converted first, see Convert a Bedrock world to Java.
• Do not rely on Realms backups. Mojang says Realms keeps backups only for a limited time, so download the world itself.
• Plan the version. The Realm's world was last saved in some Minecraft version. Your server must run that version or a newer one, because Minecraft does not support loading a world in an older version. Open the world in your own game first: the Singleplayer list shows the version a world was last played in.

Download the world from your Realm

Mojang's help page for downloading a Realm world uses menu names ("Download World" and "Let's go!") that do not appear in the Java Edition client's own text, so it is not safe to follow for Java. The Java client's own text contains the labels below, but we have not walked the menus, so we cannot give you the exact click path:

• Configure Realm
• World Backups
• Download Latest
• The prompt "The world will be downloaded and added to your singleplayer worlds."

Look for them in your Realm's settings in the Java client, and confirm the prompt when it appears.

When the download finishes, the world is in your Singleplayer list as a normal local save. Mojang's page describes it as a world you can play offline.

Find the folder and zip it

The world is a folder inside the saves folder of your .minecraft directory:

Quit Minecraft, then zip the world folder itself, so the zip holds one folder with level.dat inside. The import accepts level.dat at the top of the zip or one folder down. If it is deeper, the import stops with "Couldn't find a world (no level.dat) inside that zip".

Import it on your server

1. Pick a server version in JAR Manager that matches your plan from the first section. Change your Minecraft version or mod loader walks through it.
2. Click Stop on the Console tab and wait for Offline.
3. Open World Import under Content in the panel menu.
4. Drop the zip onto the Drop your world .zip here box. Browser uploads stop at 100 MB, so a bigger zip needs SFTP.
5. With the zip selected, click Import selected world, then click Import world in the Replace the current world? box.
6. Press Start on the Console tab and join.

If the import fails

• "Couldn't find a world (no level.dat) inside that zip". The level.dat file sits more than one folder down. Zip the world folder itself and upload it again.
• "That's not a .zip". The tab only takes .zip files.
• The old world still loads. Check that the server was stopped before you imported, as in step 2 of the import. The import box says the server must be stopped. Stop it, then upload and import again.