.schem, .litematic or .mcworld

The three formats that ship with every download, and which one to open depending on what you're doing.

The quick answer

• .schem — if you have a server with WorldEdit or FAWE. The usual case.
• .litematic — if you want to build it by hand in survival with Litematica.
• .mcworld — if you want the whole world, not just the build.

.schem

WorldEdit’s modern format. It stores a region of blocks with their states, and you paste it with //schem load and //paste. This is what you want 90% of the time.

Watch out: there’s also the older .schematic, without the trailing “m”. An earlier format from the MCEdit era. Modern WorldEdit still reads it, but it loses information about newer blocks. If you’re given a choice, always take .schem.

.litematic

Litematica’s format. It doesn’t paste into a server: it’s meant for projecting the build as a hologram so you build it yourself. If your plan is “make it appear already built,” this isn’t your file.

.mcworld

A full world, packaged up. You open it by importing it as a new world, not by pasting it into an existing one. Useful when the build depends on the terrain around it — minigame maps, for instance, where the distances between bases matter.

Which format each build ships with

Every schematic’s page lists which formats are included. Most ship with all three; some large dungeons skip .mcworld because the full world would be heavy for what little it adds.