Download your Aternos world and move it to a new server

Moving from Aternos takes three jobs: download your world from Aternos, set your server here to the same software and version, then import the zip in the World Import tab. Builds, player data and datapacks travel inside the world. Plugins, mods and settings need a few extra steps.

Still deciding whether to move? Aternos alternative: a 24/7 Minecraft server covers what Aternos gives you for free, why its servers stop, and when a paid server makes sense.

Before you start

1. Take a backup here. On your new server, open the Backups tab and click Create backup. How to create and restore backups covers restoring it.
2. Note what Aternos runs. Its server page shows the software and Minecraft version. Write both down, with any modpack, plugins or mods.

Download your world from Aternos

Steps checked against Aternos's help pages in October 2026.

1. Ask your players to log off, so the copy has their latest builds.
2. Log in at aternos.org and open the Worlds page.
3. Select your world and click Download. Aternos sends a zip of it. Use your normal browser, not a download manager, as Aternos's help asks.
4. If Aternos runs Paper, Spigot or another Bukkit-based software on a Minecraft version before 26.1, it keeps the Nether and the End as separate worlds, world_nether and world_the_end. Download those from the Worlds page too. From 26.1, Paper keeps every dimension inside the main world folder.
5. Note your other settings. Aternos's help documents downloading whole worlds, not single settings files, so note the values you want to keep: the server options in server.properties, and the plugin settings you changed, which you can open on the Files page (most plugins create a config folder of their own).

Aternos doesn't offer FTP access, and its backups are stored in your Google Drive, so the Worlds page is the way to get your world.

Match the software and version here

Do this before the import, because a reinstall can reset config files and a modpack install can replace the world.

1. Open the JAR Manager tab, under More in the panel menu.
2. Set Server software and Minecraft version to match Aternos. For Spigot or Bukkit, pick Paper, which runs their plugins. Change Minecraft server version or loader has the details.
3. Click Apply change, then Confirm & reinstall, and watch the Console until the reinstall finishes.
4. For a modpack, skip steps 2 and 3 and install the same pack from the Modpacks tab, which searches Modrinth, CurseForge, Feed The Beast and Technic. See Install a Minecraft modpack on your server.

Merge the Nether and the End first

Only needed when Aternos ran a Bukkit-based software before 26.1 and your server here runs Vanilla, Fabric or Forge, which keep both dimensions inside the main world folder. Following Aternos's help:

1. Unzip all three downloads.
2. In the main world folder, delete DIM1 and DIM-1 if they exist.
3. Move world_the_end/DIM1 and world_nether/DIM-1 into the main world folder.
4. Zip the main world folder itself and import that zip.

Import the world

Upload your singleplayer Minecraft world has the full walkthrough, including SFTP for zips over 100 MB. In short:

1. Stop the server first. The import doesn't stop it for you, and a running server saves over the imported world when it stops.

2. Open World Import, under Content. Drop the zip on Drop your world .zip here and select it under Potential saves on your server.

3. Click Import selected world. Click Back up now if you skipped the backup, then Import world.

   

4. On Paper with separate Nether and End folders, leave the server stopped and carry on below. Otherwise, Start it and wait for Done (…s)! in the Console.

The import installs your world as world and sets level-name=world. Your server's old world folder is renamed, not deleted. If the tab says Couldn't find a world (no level.dat) inside that zip., unzip it and zip the world folder itself, so level.dat sits at the top of the zip or one folder down.

Add the Nether and the End on Paper before 26.1

The import replaces only the world folder. If Aternos kept the Nether and the End as separate worlds and your server here runs Paper on the same version, add them yourself.

1. On your computer, unzip the world_nether and world_the_end downloads, then zip each folder itself.

2. In the File Manager, delete the world_nether and world_the_end folders this server generated. The panel asks you to type each name.

3. Click Upload and upload both zips next to server.properties. The browser takes files up to 100 MB. For bigger ones, upload the unzipped folders over SFTP and skip step 4.

   

4. Select each zip, choose Extract here, then delete both zips.

5. Start the server and visit the Nether to check it.

Plugins, mods and settings

• Plugins - install each again from the Plugins tab, or upload its jar to plugins. See Install plugins on a Paper or Purpur server.
• Mods - install the same mods and versions from the Mods tab. See Install Fabric and Forge mods on your server.
• Plugin settings - start the server once so each plugin creates its folder, stop it, then open its config file in plugins/<PluginName> in the File Manager and set the values you noted.
• Server settings - set the values you noted from Aternos's server.properties in the Config Editor tab, such as Difficulty and PvP.
• Whitelist, operators and bans - add players again in the Players tab. See Minecraft whitelist: add players, set ops.

Send players the new address

Copy the address from the panel's left rail and share it. Join your Minecraft server (and fix errors) covers joining.

If the world doesn't load

Restoring your backup on the Backups tab undoes the import. Then match what you see:

• A fresh Nether or End on Paper - repeat the Paper steps above with the server stopped.
• No key dimensions in MapLike in the console - see No key dimensions in MapLike: fix level.dat.
• Missing modded blocks, or a crash naming a mod - install the mods Aternos had, at the same versions.

If nothing matches, ask for help with the first error lines from the Console, the software and version Aternos showed, and the zip's size.