Migrating to or from Paper

It’s simple to migrate your server to or from Paper. The steps below will help you get started.

When migrating to Paper from Vanilla, the way worlds are stored will automatically be changed. Should you ever want to go back to Vanilla, follow the Vanilla Migration Guide closely, as manual changes will be required.

1. Stop your Vanilla server if it is running, and create a full backup.
2. Download Paper from our downloads page and replace your Vanilla server JAR with your freshly downloaded Paper JAR.
3. Rename the downloaded file to match the name specified in the start command.
4. Start your new Paper server.

You have now successfully migrated to Paper. If you encounter any issues, do not hesitate to reach out for support on our Discord server (#paper-help channel).

Because both Fabric and Forge use the Vanilla world directory structure, the same steps as the Vanilla Migration Guide may be used, with one caveat. If your Fabric or Forge server used mods that added new blocks, items, or other data to the game, Paper will be unable to load these features.

Additionally, note that Paper does not support Fabric or Forge mods. You will need to find plugin replacements. Any hybrids that attempt to support both mods and plugins are fundamentally flawed and not recommended for use.

Spigot and CraftBukkit modify the Vanilla world directory structure, making a direct migration fundamentally impossible. If you wish to migrate from Spigot/CraftBukkit anyway, you will first need to migrate from Spigot/CraftBukkit to Vanilla, after which you can safely follow the Vanilla Migration Guide. For instructions on how to do this, please refer to the Spigot documentation.

Because Paper shares a similar world structure to Vanilla, all you need to do is move around some files. The following list shows which files you will need to move where. Before you move around any files, make sure your server is fully stopped.

The following files will need to be moved 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

After you have moved these files, you can now replace the Paper server JAR with a Vanilla server JAR and start your Vanilla server!

Because both Fabric and Forge use the same directory structure for world storage as Vanilla, follow the Vanilla Migration Guide for this process. Note that neither Fabric nor Forge will support Paper plugins! You will be required to find replacement mods.

Because Paper stores worlds slightly differently than Vanilla, manual work is required to migrate. If these steps are not taken, your nether and end will look like they have been reset. Don’t worry! Even if this has happened, you haven’t lost any data. The Vanilla server just doesn’t know where to find it.

Here is a chart to show the difference between how Vanilla and Paper store worlds.

Server Software	Overworld	Nether	End
Vanilla	/world	/world/DIM-1	/world/DIM1
Paper	/world	/world_nether/DIM-1	/world_the_end/DIM1

Follow these steps to migrate from Paper to Vanilla:

1. Stop your Paper server, if it is running.
2. If you have already started your server with Vanilla, enter the world folder and delete both the DIM-1 and DIM1 folders. This step is only necessary should you have started your server with 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 both the /world_nether and /world_the_end folders.
6. Replace your Paper JAR with a Vanilla server JAR.
7. Start your Vanilla server.

Paper does not support migration from or to either CraftBukkit or Spigot! While you may find success, do not reach out for support with issues you encounter and note that data loss is possible.

Historically, migrating from Spigot to Paper was possible due to a shared directory structure (1.21.11 and older), however since 26.1, Paper’s world directory structure has been altered to more closely match Vanilla, which made migrating from or to Spigot/CraftBukkit no longer possible.