MCA Selector — the Minecraft Chunk Editor for Java Edition
MCA Selector is a free, open-source tool to select chunks and regions in Minecraft Java Edition worlds for deletion, export or editing. Prune your world before a big update, reset chunks to regenerate them with new terrain, and batch-edit world data — all from a top-down map of your save.
Free & open source (MIT) · by Querz · 4,933 GitHub stars · 2M+ downloads across all releases · Windows, macOS & Linux
Start Here
New to MCA Selector, or here for one specific job? These six pages are where most readers begin.
How to Use MCA Selector
The complete beginner’s walkthrough: open a world, read the map, select chunks and make your first safe edit.
Download MCA Selector 2.9
The current release for Windows, macOS and Linux — official GitHub files with SHA-256 hashes to verify.
Troubleshooting Hub
Something not working? Every error guide in one place — No Dimensions Found, missing JavaFX, changes not saving and more.
MCA Selector & Bedrock
The honest answer on Bedrock support — and which tools Bedrock players should use instead.
Back Up Your World First
Edits in MCA Selector are instant, with no undo. This local + cloud backup workflow is the one step to never skip.
Best Minecraft Server Hosting
Running your world on a server? How the main hosts compare on panels, file access and backups for edited worlds.
What MCA Selector does
Open a world folder and MCA Selector renders a zoomable top-down map of every region file. From there you work at chunk or region level — much faster and safer than editing raw files by hand.
Select chunks & regions
Click and drag on the map to select at chunk level (zoomed in) or region level (zoomed out). Save a selection to a CSV file and import it again later — with Add and Subtraction modes to build complex selections.
Delete & reset chunks
Delete selected chunks so Minecraft regenerates them fresh — the standard way to bring new update terrain, structures and ores into an old world, or to slim a world down before an update.
Export & import chunks
Export selected chunks into new region, poi and entities folders, or import chunks from another world with chunk and height offsets. You can also copy and paste selections between worlds.
Filter by world data
The Chunk Filter finds chunks by DataVersion, InhabitedTime, coordinates, biome, blocks, entities, structures and more, combined with grouping — or write a Groovy script filter for full control.
Batch-edit NBT data
NBT Changer edits fields across all matching chunks at once: set a biome, replace blocks by name, change DataVersion, delete entities, fix chunk status — including fields used for version downgrade and blending fixes.
Inspect a single chunk
The Chunk Editor opens one chunk’s full NBT tree — region, poi and entities — for precise edits. Region defragmentation, chunk swapping and a headless CLI mode round out the toolset.
Back up your world first — there is no undo
MCA Selector modifies your world files directly. Deleting chunks and applying NBT Changer edits happen instantly and cannot be undone — there is no File > Save step and no recycle bin for chunks (only the single-chunk editor waits for you to press Apply). Before every session: copy your whole world folder somewhere safe, and close the world in Minecraft and on your server. A two-minute backup is the difference between a routine cleanup and a lost world.
Get 2.9 and the backup checklistHow it works
Open your world
Use File → Open World and pick the world folder (the one containing the region folder). Use overlays and the height slider to inspect it.
Select or filter
Drag a selection on the map, or run a Chunk Filter — for example, every chunk with a low InhabitedTime that nobody ever built in.
Delete, export or edit
Delete the selection, export it to a new world, or batch-change its NBT fields. Changes are written to the .mca files as soon as you confirm.
Play the pruned world
Close MCA Selector and open the world in Minecraft. Deleted chunks regenerate with current-version terrain on your next visit.
Supported Minecraft versions
MCA Selector 2.9 reads Java Edition worlds from Minecraft 1.2.1 through 26.3+, per the developer’s supported-versions table:
| Minecraft version | DataVersion |
|---|---|
| 1.2.1 – 1.12.2 | None – 1343 |
| 1.13 – 1.13.2 | 1444 – 1631 |
| 1.14 – 1.14.4 | 1901 – 1976 |
| 1.15 – 1.15.2 | 2200 – 2230 |
| 1.16 – 1.16.5 | 2566 – 2586 |
| 1.17 – 1.17.1 | 2724 – 2730 |
| 1.18 – 1.18.2 | 2825 – 2975 |
| 1.19 – 1.19.4 | 3105 – 3337 |
| 1.20 – 1.20.6 | 3463 – 3839 |
| 1.21 – 1.21.11 | 3953 – 4671 |
| 26.1 – 26.3+ | 4764 – 5023+ |
Note from the developer: there is no guarantee that worlds generated in Snapshot versions will work, and old Snapshots are not officially supported.
Does MCA Selector work with Bedrock?
No. MCA Selector is built for Minecraft Java Edition worlds in the Anvil (.mca) format. Bedrock Edition (Windows 10/11, consoles and mobile) stores worlds in a LevelDB database instead, and the developer has stated publicly that he does not plan to add Bedrock support. If you need to edit a Bedrock world, look at a dual-format editor such as Amulet Editor instead — and if a site ever offers an “MCA Selector for Bedrock” or an MCA Selector APK, it is not the real tool: there is no official mobile version.
Frequently asked questions
Is MCA Selector free?
Yes — free and open source under the MIT license. The source code and every release are on GitHub, which the developer names as the only official and safe download source.
Do I need to install Java?
Not for the Windows installer — since v2.8 it pre-packages the Java runtime. You only need Java for the universal .jar, and current versions require a 64-bit JRE 21+ with JavaFX.
Why didn’t my changes save?
There is nothing to “save”: deletions and NBT Changer edits are written to disk the moment you confirm them. The exception is the single-chunk editor, where you must press Apply. If a change seems missing, check that the world was not open in the game at the same time.
What are the system requirements?
A computer with at least 6 GB of RAM is the official baseline. Windows, macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel) and Linux (.deb/.rpm) builds are on the download page, with SHA-256 hashes for every file.
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