Data version

This feature is exclusive to Java Edition. 

A data version, also known as a world version,^[1][2] is a positive integer used in a world saved data to denote a specific version, and determines whether the player should be warned about opening that world due to client version incompatibilities.

Usage[edit | edit source]

Upon selecting and loading a singleplayer world, the game checks if the client has a data version newer or older than the selected world. If it does, the game then prompts the user whether they want to back up their world before playing it if the world is older, or warn them that their world may become corrupted if the world is newer.

Versioning[edit | edit source]

Every version of Java Edition since 15w32a, including minor releases and snapshots, has its own data version. The version takes the form of an ever-increasing positive integer unlike client versions. Data versions are necessary because client versions usually cannot be directly compared since they use different formats (i.e., "1.14" and "19w02a" cannot be compared). Data versions may skip numbers between any release.

Storage locations[edit | edit source]

Data versions can be found in many different places.

Player data[edit | edit source]

In-game, the data version can be obtained using the command /data get entity @s DataVersion.

options.txt[edit | edit source]

The first line of options.txt since 1.10-pre1 displays the data version, named version.

level.dat[edit | edit source]

The data version is stored in two places inside the level.dat file of a world save: in the root Data compound named DataVersion and also in the Version compound named Id.

Region files[edit | edit source]

Each chunk in the region files (located in .minecraft\saves\<world name>\region named r.<region X>.<region Z>.mca) contains information about the data version when it was last saved.

.dat and .nbt files[edit | edit source]

All .dat and .nbt files contain the data version in their root compound of when the file was last saved.

version.json[edit | edit source]

Each Minecraft build since 18w47b also specifies its current data version in the version.json file, found in the root directory of the client and server jars.

List of data versions[edit | edit source]

The latest Java Edition release version, 1.21.3, has a data version of 4082.
The latest Java Edition development version, 24w44a, has a data version of 4174.

History[edit | edit source]

See also[edit | edit source]

• Protocol version
• al_version

References[edit | edit source]

Navigation[edit | edit source]