Minecraft NBT Editor Java + Bedrock
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How to Change a Minecraft World Name

Supports Minecraft Bedrock Edition and Java Edition — and every server core for both, popular or obscure: Vanilla, Paper, Spigot, Purpur, Folia, Fabric, Forge, NeoForge, Mohist, Sponge, Bedrock Dedicated Server, PocketMine-MP, Nukkit, PowerNukkitX, Cloudburst, Dragonfly, Endstone, LeviLamina and the rest. Full list.

A world's display name lives in the LevelName tag inside level.dat, not in the folder name. Renaming the folder changes nothing the game shows, which is why a copied world keeps announcing itself under the original name. Drop level.dat into the editor below — it jumps straight to LevelName — change the value, save, and put the file back.

JavaBedrockServersSingle player2 minutes

Drop level.dat here

level.dat · .nbt · .mcstructure · .schem · .schematic · .dat · chunk dumps

Why renaming the folder does nothing

Minecraft treats the folder as an address and LevelName as the label. The world list, the server console, world-manager plugins and anything printing "world" to chat read the tag. So a folder copy — cp -r worlds/hub worlds/hub2 — produces two worlds that insist they are both hub, and the only fix is inside the file.

On a server the duplicate is worse than confusing. Plugins that resolve worlds by internal name can act on the wrong one: teleport pads, per-world configs, protection regions, economy multipliers. Rename the tag the moment you copy a world, before anything caches it.

Per platform

Java single player

The client offers a rename in the world options screen and it edits LevelName for you. Editing the file by hand matters when the world will not load, when you are working on a copy, or when you want the folder and the label to differ deliberately.

Java server

level-name in server.properties selects the folder to load. It does not rename anything. Change LevelName in world/level.dat for the label.

Bedrock and MCPE

The in-game world edit screen renames the world. When the world lives on a server, or you are patching an exported .mcworld, edit LevelName in level.dat directly — Bedrock stores it flat at the root, uncompressed, behind the 8-byte header the editor handles for you.

Bedrock servers (PocketMine-MP, Nukkit, BDS)

Same file, same tag, and the same warning about stopping the server first. The server page has the full workflow including the folder-copy case.

If the name does not change

  • The server was running. Its in-memory copy was written back over your file on the next save. Stop it and redo the edit.
  • You edited the wrong world. Bedrock world folders are random ids. Open the file and read LevelName to confirm you have the right one before editing.
  • You edited level.dat_old. That is the previous save, not the live file.
  • A launcher or panel caches the name. Some hosting panels show a name from their own database rather than the world file; the game itself will be correct.
  • The world will not load at all now. Restore the backup and see fixing a broken level.dat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does renaming a world delete anything?

No. LevelName is a label. Terrain, players, inventories and entities live in other files and are untouched.

Can I use spaces, colours or emoji in a world name?

Spaces are fine. Section-sign colour codes work on some server software and show as literal characters elsewhere. Emoji survive the round trip here because the editor uses the right string encoding per edition, but consoles and log files may render them badly.

Do I have to rename the folder too?

No, and often you should not — a server's level-name setting or a plugin config may point at the folder path. Change one thing at a time.

Will players see the new name immediately?

After the world reloads, yes. Clients that cached a server list entry may need a refresh.

Related tools

level.dat editorWorld name, game mode, spawn, difficulty and game rules.PocketMine-MP editorServer-side level.dat for PMMP, Nukkit and BDS.MCPE NBT editorLittle-endian NBT and the 8-byte level.dat header.Fix a broken level.datDiagnose why a world refuses to load, and repair it.Minecraft NBT editorThe universal editor — every edition, every NBT file type.Edit game ruleskeepInventory and friends, without loading the world.