How to download your Minecraft world to your PC Print

This article explains how to download your Minecraft world from your PlayNHost server to your own PC, either as a backup or to use in singleplayer.

1. Stop the server (recommended)

Stopping the server while you download prevents the world from changing during the copy.

1. Go to https://panel.playnhost.com and log in.
2. Select your Minecraft server.
3. On the server dashboard, click Stop and wait until the server is fully offline.

2. Find your world folder

Minecraft stores the world in a folder inside your server files.

4. In the Game Panel, open File Manager for your server.
5. In most cases, the main world folder is named:
   • world (default), or
   • Whatever name you set as your level/world name in the configuration.
6. If you are not sure which folder is your world:
   • Check your server.properties file for the level-name value.
   • The world folder name will match that value.

3. Create a compressed backup (if your panel supports it)

This method gives you a single file that is easy to download and upload later.

• In File Manager, select your world folder.
• Use the available option to Compress or Archive the folder (for example into a .zip). The exact button name may vary depending on the panel.
• Wait for the archive to be created. You should now see a file such as world.zip in the same directory.

If your File Manager does not offer compression, you can still download the folder directly via SFTP (see below).

4. Download the world using File Manager

Once you have a .zip archive (or if your panel allows folder downloads directly):

7. In File Manager, locate the .zip file for your world.
8. Click the Download option for that file.
9. Choose a location on your PC to save it.

Keep this file safe – it contains your full world.

5. Download the world using SFTP (advanced)

If you prefer or if your panel does not provide compression/download for folders, you can use SFTP.

• In the Client Area at https://playnhost.com/billing, open your Minecraft service and find your SFTP/FTP details (host, port, username, password).
• Open an SFTP client such as FileZilla.
• Connect using the provided host, port, username and password.
• Browse to the directory where your world folder is stored.
• Drag the entire world folder (for example world) from the server side to a folder on your PC.

This may take a while depending on the size of your world.

6. Use the downloaded world in singleplayer

To play the world locally:

• If you downloaded a .zip, extract it first so you get the world folder.
• On Windows, press Win + R, type %appdata%\.minecraft and press Enter.
• Open the saves folder.
• Copy your world folder into the saves folder.
• Start Minecraft → Singleplayer. You should see your server world in the list.

7. Restart your server

11. After downloading, go back to https://panel.playnhost.com.
12. Select your server and click Start.

Downloading the world does not remove it from the server, so your players can continue where they left off.

8. If you need to restore this backup later

If you want to restore this downloaded world back to your PlayNHost server in the future, follow the steps in “How to upload an existing Minecraft world to your server” and use this world folder or .zip instead.