How to Backup or Restore a Minecraft Realm

If you plan to pause Minecraft for an extended period of time, it’s important to back up your Minecraft realm, as the game will delete your world after a certain point if you’re not subscribed. Players may also want to backup a Minecraft realm if they want to load it onto a different server. Here’s an overview of how to properly backup a Minecraft realm and how to restore it from a backup file.

Important note before backing up Minecraft realms

There are two versions of Minecraft to ensure the game runs on different platforms. Back up and restore realms with Java Edition for PC, Mac, and Linux. The mobile, console, and Windows 10 versions of Minecraft do not allow you to back up your realm. So if you want it to stay permanently on the game’s servers, you’ll need to keep renewing your Realms subscription.

How to download a Minecraft realm

Start the game and select Minecraft Realms. There you will find a list of the realms you own or have been invited to. You can only download a world from a realm that you personally own. It is currently not possible to download other people’s realms.

1. Go to your Realms configuration by selecting the button with a tool icon.

2. From the Realms configuration screen, go to your world backups.

3. Select the Download Latest button and follow the on-screen instructions.

The world you download will be saved with your single player worlds. You can access downloaded worlds in single player and upload them to another realm.

How to restore a Minecraft realm

You can only restore a Minecraft Realm if you have an active Realms subscription. Make sure you have a subscription from the official . The subscription price starts at $7.99 per month.

After purchasing a new realm subscription and creating a new world within that realm, you can access the realm configuration menu to upload a backup.

1. From the main menu, select Realms

2. Find the area you want to change and select the wrench icon

3. Under Worlds, select an empty world slot

4. Click Upload World

5. Select the backup you want to load