Exporting and importing is how you move a castle, a city district or a whole spawn area from one world into another — or archive a build as standalone chunk files. MCA Selector handles both directions: exports write a portable chunk package, imports merge chunks into a target world with control over exactly where they land.
Back up your world first: MCA Selector writes deletions and NBT changes straight to disk the moment you confirm them — there is no undo and no File → Save step to catch a mistake. Close Minecraft (and stop your server, if the world is on one), then copy the whole world folder somewhere safe before you edit.
Exporting chunks
- Open the source world (File → Open World) with Minecraft closed.
- Select the chunks to export — drag a rectangle around the build, and zoom in to check the edges chunk by chunk. Remember that entities and points of interest are stored alongside the terrain, so include every chunk the build touches.
- Choose Selection → Export selected chunks and pick an empty target folder.
- MCA Selector writes new
region,poiandentitiesfolders into it. The source world is not modified — exporting is the one operation in this tool that is safe by design.
There is also an Export as image option that renders the selection as a picture — handy for sharing a map of an area, useless for moving builds. Keep the two apart.
Importing chunks into another world
- Open the target world first (File → Open World). Importing always merges into the world that is currently open — opening the source world instead is the classic mistake.
- Choose Tools → Import chunks and point it at the folder you exported earlier (the folder containing the
region/poi/entitiesfolders). - Set the placement options (next section), review them, and run the import.
- Close the tool and check the result in game before you do anything else.
A lighter-weight alternative for small moves is copy and paste: select chunks, copy with Ctrl+C, open the other world, and paste with Ctrl+V. The full import dialog is the better tool when placement has to be precise.
Placement: Offset, Y-Offset, sections and Overwrite
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Offset | Shifts the imported chunks by a number of chunks on the X/Z axes. The unit is chunk coordinates — block coordinates divided by 16. An offset of 10 moves the build 160 blocks. |
| Y-Offset | Shifts the import vertically, counted in sections of 16 blocks. Use it when the build was made at a different height than the target terrain. |
| Sections range | Limits which vertical sections (16-block slices) are taken from the source chunks. |
| Overwrite | Whether imported chunks replace the target chunks already at that position. Without overwrite, existing chunks in the way are left alone — check the result either way. |
| Apply to selection only | Restricts the import to the chunks inside your current selection in the target world. |
Work out the offset on paper before you import: find the chunk coordinates of the build in the source world (block X ÷ 16, block Z ÷ 16), decide where its corner should land in the target world, and the difference is your offset. The selection tools guide shows how to read and re-create exact selections with CSV files, which pairs well with imports you may need to repeat.
Version and DataVersion compatibility
- Imported chunks keep the DataVersion they were saved with. If they come from a newer Minecraft version than the target world runs, the game may fail to load them or convert them unpredictably — match versions, or upgrade the target world, rather than forcing newer chunks into an older game. The DataVersion list maps values to game versions.
- Chunks from an older version generally load and get upgraded by the game on first visit, like any old world.
- Changing the
DataVersionfield with the NBT Changer only rewrites the number — it does not convert the chunk’s contents to another version’s format. Do not use it to “downgrade” chunks.
Two things that do not travel with the chunks
The official documentation is explicit about two gaps: commands inside command blocks are not changed (coordinates inside commands still point at the old location), and maps are not updated, because map data is not stored inside the region files. Budget time to fix command blocks by hand and to re-create maps after a move, and check anything position-dependent — redstone with absolute coordinates, structure blocks, spawn points — in game.
Download MCA Selector 2.9
Everything in this guide works with the current release. Get the Windows installer, the cross-platform .jar, the macOS .dmg or the Linux .deb/.rpm from the MCA Selector download page — every button there points at the official GitHub release files and lists the SHA-256 checksum, with a clearly labelled site mirror as a fallback.
One last backup reminder: keep the copy of your world you made before editing until you have loaded the edited world in Minecraft and confirmed it looks right. Deletions and NBT changes in MCA Selector are permanent once applied.