How to Migrate a Paper World to Vanilla, Forge, or Fabric

How to Migrate a Paper World to Vanilla, Forge, or Fabric

Moving a world off Paper to Vanilla, Forge, or Fabric used to mean hunting down split Nether and End folders. Paper 26.1 changed how worlds are stored, so the steps are different now depending on your version. This guide covers both modern (26.1+) and older Paper, without resetting your Nether or End. Back up before you touch anything.

Always Back Up First

Before moving any files, take a full backup of your server. See backing up your Minecraft world. The classic "my Nether and End got reset" panic almost always comes down to folders left in the wrong place, and a backup means a mistake costs you nothing.

What Changed in Paper 26.1

• Older Paper (and Spigot) split the dimensions into separate top-level folders: world for the Overworld, world_nether for the Nether, and world_the_end for the End.
• Vanilla, Forge, and Fabric keep all three dimensions inside one world folder: world for the Overworld, world/DIM-1 for the Nether, and world/DIM1 for the End.
• As of Paper 26.1, Paper stores worlds in a layout close to vanilla's. Migrating out is now a small file move instead of shuffling whole dimension folders.

Before You Begin

• Stop the server completely. Moving files while it runs risks corruption.
• These steps assume your level-name in server.properties is world. If yours is different, use your level-name everywhere a step says world.
• Check your Paper version. 26.1 and newer use the modern steps below. Anything older uses the legacy steps further down.

Migrating from Paper 26.1+ to Vanilla, Forge, or Fabric

Modern Paper already stores the world much like vanilla, so you only need to move a few level data files.

1. Stop the server and confirm your backup.
2. Move these files from world/dimensions/minecraft/overworld/data/minecraft/ into world/data/minecraft/:

game_rules.dat
scheduled_events.dat
wandering_trader.dat
weather.dat
world_gen_settings.dat

3. Replace the Paper server JAR with a Vanilla, Forge, or Fabric server JAR.
4. Start the server.

Forge and Fabric use the same world layout as vanilla, so the same steps apply. Keep in mind that Forge and Fabric will not load Paper plugins, and Paper will not load Forge or Fabric mods, so plan your replacements.

Migrating from Older Paper (before 26.1)

Older Paper splits the Nether and End into their own folders. If you switch to vanilla without merging them, your Nether and End will look reset. The data is not lost. Vanilla just does not know where to find it yet. Merge the folders to fix it:

1. Stop the Paper server.
2. If you already booted the server once on vanilla, delete the empty DIM-1 and DIM1 folders inside world first. This step only applies if you already started vanilla.
3. Copy the world_nether/DIM-1 folder into the world folder.
4. Copy the world_the_end/DIM1 folder into the world folder.
5. Delete the world_nether and world_the_end folders.
6. Replace the Paper JAR with a Vanilla, Forge, or Fabric JAR.
7. Start the server.

Migrating the Other Way (to Paper)

Going from Vanilla, Forge, or Fabric to Paper is automatic. Stop the server, back up, swap in the Paper JAR, and start it. Paper converts the world layout for you. Keep that backup, because going back to vanilla later needs the manual steps above.

Spigot and CraftBukkit (Important)

As of Paper 26.1, you cannot migrate a Spigot or CraftBukkit world directly to Paper. Migrate from Spigot or CraftBukkit to vanilla first, then follow the steps above to move to Paper. Going from Paper to Spigot or CraftBukkit is not supported and can lose data.

Common Issues and Solutions

• Nether and End look reset after switching to vanilla: you are on the older Paper layout and have not merged world_nether/DIM-1 and world_the_end/DIM1 into world. No data is lost, just follow the legacy steps.
• Only the Overworld loads, or the world will not load at all: confirm level-name in server.properties matches your world folder, and that the server was fully stopped before you moved files.
• Modded blocks or items vanish going to Paper: Paper does not run Forge or Fabric mods, so modded content cannot load.
• Plugins or mods are gone after migrating: Paper plugins and Forge/Fabric mods are not interchangeable. You need equivalents on the new platform.

Tips

• Keep the pre-migration backup until you have confirmed every dimension loads correctly.
• Migrate the world format separately from upgrading the Minecraft version, so you only change one thing at a time.
• The official PaperMC migration guide is the source of truth if Paper ever changes these steps again.

Need a hand moving between server types? Contact our support team and we will help.