Minecraft server.properties Reference: Every Setting, Default and What It Does

Minecraft server.properties: Complete Reference

server.properties is the settings file for a Java Edition server. It lives in the folder you start the jar from and is created on the first run. Every start, the server re-reads it, replaces missing or invalid values with defaults and rewrites it, stripping any comments you added. Nothing takes effect until the server restarts. Defaults below are what a current server generates; where one changed between versions the row says so, following the official server.properties documentation.

Identity and visibility

Property	Default	What it does	When to change it
motd	A Minecraft Server	Line under your server name in the multiplayer list. Color codes work.	Always. Over 59 characters can break the list entry.
enable-status	true	Whether the server answers server-list pings.	False looks offline but still accepts joins.
hide-online-players	false	Whether player names ride along in the status reply.	True to keep the player list private.
bug-report-link	blank	URL behind the report_bug server link.	Only with your own issue tracker.

Players and access

Property	Default	What it does	When to change it
max-players	20	Concurrent player slots.	Raise with RAM and CPU, never alone.
white-list	false before 26.3, true from 26.3	Whether whitelist.json gates joins. Ops are exempt.	On for private servers.
enforce-whitelist	false	Also kicks online players missing from the list on reload.	With white-list, on strict servers.
online-mode	true	Verifies every join against the Minecraft account database.	Leave true. See the warning below.
op-permission-level	4	Level granted by /op (0 to 4).	Lower to limit new ops.
function-permission-level	2	Level functions run at (1 to 4).	Datapacks needing higher commands.
force-gamemode	false	Forces the default game mode on every join.	Creative and adventure servers.
player-idle-timeout	0 (never)	Minutes idle before a kick.	Busy servers short on slots.
spawn-protection	16	Protected square around spawn, side 2x+1, ops only inside.	0 to let players build at spawn. Absent until the first join; off if there are no ops.
broadcast-console-to-ops	true	Sends console command output to online ops.	Off with a large staff team.
enable-code-of-conduct	false	Shows rules from the codeofconduct folder. Added 1.21.9.	Public servers wanting rules accepted.
chat-spam-threshold-seconds	10	Chat allowance before an automatic kick; 0 never kicks. Added 26.2.	Raise for chatty communities.
command-spam-threshold-seconds	10	The same limit for commands. Added 26.2.	Raise on command-heavy servers.

World generation

Property	Default	What it does	When to change it
level-name	world	World folder. Loaded if it exists, generated if not.	To swap between stored worlds.
level-seed	blank (random)	Seed used when the world is generated.	Before the world exists, never after.
level-type	minecraft:normal	Preset: normal, flat, large_biomes, amplified, single_biome_surface.	Before the world exists, never after.
generator-settings	{}	JSON customizing the preset, mainly flat worlds.	With level-type, at creation only.
generate-structures	true	Whether villages and the like generate. Dungeons ignore it.	Rarely. Applies to every new chunk.
max-world-size	29999984	Blocks from center to the world border. Higher values do nothing.	Lower to cap world size on disk.
initial-enabled-packs	vanilla	Data packs switched on at world creation.	To enable experimental features.
initial-disabled-packs	blank	Data packs left off at creation.	Rarely.

Gameplay

Property	Default	What it does	When to change it
gamemode	survival	Mode for a first-time player: survival, creative, adventure, spectator.	Creative builds, adventure maps.
difficulty	easy	peaceful, easy, normal or hard. Peaceful stops hostile spawns.	Most survival servers use normal or hard.
hardcore	false	Hardcore on worlds created with it on; death bans the player.	At world creation only.
allow-flight	false	Whether a survival player may stay airborne without a kick.	On when a plugin or mod grants flight.

Performance and view distance

Property	Default	What it does	When to change it
view-distance	10	Chunk radius of world data sent to clients (3 to 32).	Lower this first for a memory problem, since it decides how much world is loaded and sent.
simulation-distance	10	Chunk radius that is actually ticked (3 to 32).	Lower to cut tick cost; distant farms stop.
entity-broadcast-range-percentage	100	Percentage of the normal range entities are sent at (10 to 1000).	Lower with heavy mob counts.
max-tick-time	60000	Milliseconds per tick before the watchdog kills the server; -1 disables it.	Raise on modpacks that stall loading chunks.
max-chained-neighbor-updates	1000000	Consecutive block updates before the rest are skipped; negative disables.	Only against redstone lag machines.
sync-chunk-writes	true	Synchronous chunk writes, so a crash cannot corrupt them.	Leave on.
region-file-compression	deflate	Chunk compression: deflate, lz4 or none. Added 1.20.5.	lz4 for faster saves, bigger files.
pause-when-empty-seconds	60	Seconds empty before the server stops ticking. Added 1.21.2.	Raise so farms run with nobody online.

Networking and security

Property	Default	What it does	When to change it
server-port	25565	TCP port the server listens on.	Several servers on one machine.
server-ip	blank	Address to bind to. Blank binds all of them.	Leave blank on a normal host.
network-compression-threshold	256	Byte size above which packets are compressed; -1 off, 0 everything.	Raise on a LAN only.
use-native-transport	true	Optimized packet handling on Linux.	Leave on.
rate-limit	0 (off)	Packets allowed before a kick.	Packet floods only; false kicks are common.
prevent-proxy-connections	false	Kicks players whose network differs from the authenticated one.	Leave off if players use VPNs.
enforce-secure-profile	true	Requires a signed chat key.	Off on secure profile join errors.
accepts-transfers	false	Whether transfers from another server are accepted.	Multi-server networks.
log-ips	true	Whether player IPs appear in console and logs.	Off to keep logs free of personal data.
text-filtering-config	blank	Chat filter config used internally by Realms.	Never.
text-filtering-version	0	Format version for that config; 0 or 1.	Never.

Remote management and monitoring

Property	Default	What it does	When to change it
enable-rcon	false	Remote console over TCP, unencrypted.	For panels and bots, on localhost.
rcon.password	blank	RCON password. RCON refuses to start while blank.	Always set a long one.
rcon.port	25575	TCP port RCON listens on.	Change it, never expose it publicly.
broadcast-rcon-to-ops	true	Sends RCON command output to online ops.	Off with frequent automation.
enable-query	false	Status protocol for uptime and player-count tools.	If your monitoring needs it.
query.port	25565	UDP port query listens on.	With enable-query, on a clash.
enable-jmx-monitoring	false	Exposes tick times over JMX; needs JVM flags too.	Deep performance work only.
management-server-enabled	false	Minecraft Server Management Protocol. Added 1.21.9.	Only for tooling that speaks it.
management-server-host	localhost	Address it binds to.	Leave on localhost.
management-server-port	0	Port it binds to.	With the management server on.
management-server-secret	blank	Forty character client token, generated when blank.	To pin a known value.
management-server-tls-enabled	true	TLS for the management server.	It will not start without a keystore.
management-server-tls-keystore	blank	Path to the TLS keystore.	Required when TLS is on.
management-server-tls-keystore-password	blank	Keystore password; an environment variable works too.	Prefer the environment variable.
status-heartbeat-interval	0 (off)	Management server heartbeat interval.	If clients need heartbeats.

Resource pack

Property	Default	What it does	When to change it
resource-pack	blank	Direct download URL, up to 250 MiB.	Any server shipping custom assets.
resource-pack-sha1	blank	Lowercase SHA-1 that verifies and caches the pack.	Always, and on every pack change.
resource-pack-id	blank	UUID identifying the pack to clients.	Optional, useful when swapping packs.
resource-pack-prompt	blank	Custom prompt text, chat component syntax.	To explain why the pack is needed.
require-resource-pack	false	Disconnects players who decline the pack.	Maps that break without it.

Properties that moved out of the file

The dead line usually stays in your file. The server ignores a key it no longer recognises and writes the file back out with that key still in it, so an existing server upgraded past these versions keeps a pvp=false line that does nothing at all. You get no warning, no error and no clue. A missing line only tells you the file was generated fresh by a newer build, which is the case where nobody was confused anyway. If a setting here refuses to take effect, assume the line is stale rather than wrong.

If a guide says to edit one of these, that guide predates the change. The first four are now game rules, changeable at runtime.

Old property	Removed in	Use instead
pvp	1.21.9	Game rule pvp
allow-nether	1.21.9	Game rule allow_entering_nether_using_portals
enable-command-block	1.21.9	Game rule command_blocks_work
spawn-monsters	1.21.9	Game rule spawn_monsters
spawn-animals	1.21.2	No direct replacement
spawn-npcs	1.21.2	No direct replacement

The settings behind most support tickets

Setting	Symptom	What is happening
online-mode	Invalid session, or failed to verify username	The join was not verified. Also seen when authentication is down, or when a proxy in front disagrees.
white-list	You are not white-listed on this server	The name is missing. Add it with /whitelist add, then /whitelist reload. From 26.3 the whitelist is on by default, so a new server locks everyone out.
server-port	Connection refused, or a timeout on the address that used to work	The port changed but the firewall, port forward or SRV record still points at the old one.
max-players	The server is full	Slots are capped here. Ops with the bypass flag still get in, which is why staff see no problem.
view-distance, simulation-distance	Cannot keep up, rubber banding, slow chunk loads	Both multiply work per player. view-distance ships chunks, simulation-distance ticks them. Drop simulation-distance first for a tick-rate problem, since it decides how much is being simulated. Distant farms stop when you do.
level-type, level-seed	New seed entered, same old world	Generation settings live inside the world, not here. The file is read only when the world folder does not exist yet.
difficulty, hardcore	No hostile mobs, or hardcore never applies	peaceful suppresses hostile spawns entirely. hardcore is written into the world at creation, so switching it on later does nothing.

Settings that only apply to a brand new world

What is not in this file

• Memory and JVM settings. -Xmx and -Xms belong to the start command. See Aikar's flags and modpack sizing.
• Plugin and mod settings. Those live in plugins/, config/, spigot.yml and paper-global.yml, and depend on your server software, compared in the software comparison.
• Ranks and permissions. Anything past op level comes from a plugin, usually LuckPerms.
• Player lists. ops.json, whitelist.json and the two ban lists are separate files, edited in game with commands.
• Game rules. keep_inventory, mob_griefing and, since 1.21.9, pvp and command_blocks_work are set with /gamerule. Note the snake_case: 1.21.11 renamed every game rule from camelCase, so older guides give names a current server rejects.
• EULA acceptance. eula.txt, which the server refuses to start without.
• Bedrock clients. A Java server needs Geyser; Bedrock Dedicated Server has its own file.

Related guides

• Paper server setup, server software
• Can't keep up lag, optimization, slow chunk loading
• Chunk pre-generation
• RCON setup and server security
• Seed finding, biome finding, datapacks

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