Level Format
Byte Order
level.dat is stored in Big Endian byte order unless mentioned otherwise.
Parsing level.dat
Header
| Name | Size (in bytes) | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Version | 4 | The version used to save the file. Always 1. Stored in Little Endian |
| Size | 4 | The size of the file subtracting the header. Stored in Little Endian |
Global World Data
| Name | Size (in bytes) | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Seed | 4 | The seed of the world |
| Spawn X | 4 | The X coordinate of the world spawn point |
| Spawn Y | 4 | The Y coordinate of the world spawn point |
| Spawn Z | 4 | The Z coordinate of the world spawn point |
| Estimated World Size | 8 | The world size represented in bits |
| Last Played | 4 | Unix timestamp indicating when the level was last saved.[1] |
| World Name Length | 2 | The length of the world name. |
| World Name | Variable | A CP437 encoded string. |
Notes
- Will overflow and become negative at 03:14:08 UTC on 19 January 2038 due to the year 2038 problem and will overflow every ~136 years after that.
License & Credits
This file is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.
The information here is from this Minecraft wiki page with some wording tweaked and/or simplify
Contributors
BJTMastermind