Minecraft is only as endless as your creativity. There is potential to spend hundreds or even thousands of hours working on your Minecraft world, building villages and setting them up with adequate protection. So after spending so long protecting your home and assets in Minecraft, why wouldn’t you protect your Minecraft world itself?

Losing your Minecraft world to a corrupted file or even accidental deletion would be tragic, to say the least. But as long as you have previously backed up your files, there is a way to get your deleted Minecraft world back.

How to Back Up a Minecraft World

The first step to protecting your Minecraft world is to back it up. This way, you can reinstall a previous or even current version of your Minecraft world if anything goes wrong. If you have never backed up your world, unfortunately, there is no way to retrieve it.

There are several ways to back up your Minecraft world depending on what system you are playing it on.

A pig in a boat in Minecraft

If you are playing Minecraft on a console like the PS5 or Xbox, your data should save automatically to the Cloud. If you are unsure whether your PS5 is set up to do this, follow our guide on how to back up your PS5 data.

If you are playing Minecraft on a mobile device, the only way to back up your world is to back up your device itself. Follow our guides on how to back up your iPhone or how to back up your Android device for some help on this.

If you are playing Minecraft on a PC, follow the instructions below to back up your Minecraft world:

  1. Press the Windows key and the I key to open up your settings.
  2. Head to Updates & Security.
  3. Select Backup from the menu.
  4. Select Add a Drive and select your desired location.
  5. Press More Options and Back up Now.
  6. Check the list under Back up These Folders to make sure your Minecraft data is included. If not, press Add a Folder to select it.
    add Minecraft folder by pressing add a folder

Your computer should now automatically back up your selected files.

Create a Copy of Your Minecraft World

You can also create a copy of your Minecraft world in another save file. This will protect you if you accidentally delete your first one or even if your original file becomes corrupted. This method will also work no matter what system you are playing on.

Creating a copy of your world is by far the easiest way to back it up, but it isn't the most reliable. This is because if you delete Minecraft itself, the copied file goes along with it and can no longer be retrieved.

Follow the instructions below to create a copy of your Minecraft world:

  1. Find the world you would like to copy in the load screen.
  2. Open Game Settings.
  3. Select Copy World.
    Open Minecraft world settings and select copy world

This process can take a couple of seconds to several minutes, depending on how much work you have done in your Minecraft world.

How to Retrieve a Deleted Minecraft World

Now that you have backed up your Minecraft world, you can rest easier. If anything were to happen to it, you would be able to retrieve your Minecraft world and continue crafting.

Restoring your Minecraft world on a console or mobile is as easy as retrieving your backed-up data from the Cloud. Retrieving your Minecraft world on a PC is a little more tricky. Here’s how:

  1. Open the Start menu, and type in Run.
  2. Type %appdata% into the Open field and press Enter.
  3. Scroll down until you find your .minecraft folder.
  4. Right-click on the .minecraft folder and select Properties.
  5. Navigate to the Previous Versions tab.
    Open properties of your Minecraft folder and open previous versions tab
  6. Here you should see a list of your deleted folders. Find the correct one and select Restore at the bottom right.

Your Minecraft world should now be restored. These instructions will work for Bedrock or Java versions.

Keep Your Minecraft World Safe by Backing It Up

Losing all of your progress in any game can be extremely unfortunate. But with a game like Minecraft where you can easily spend years on the same save file, losing it could be devastating.

There is no way to retrieve your Minecraft world if you haven’t previously backed it up. So make sure you protect your Minecraft world by backing up your world data before it is too late.