How do I add a server icon to my Minecraft server?

The server icon is the small square image players see next to your server in their multiplayer list. Without one, Minecraft shows a grey default. Adding your own icon takes one file with the right name and size: server-icon.png, 64 by 64 pixels, in the root folder of your server.

Step 1: create the icon

• Size: 64 × 64 pixels exactly. Other sizes are rejected with an error in the console.
• Format: PNG. Transparency is allowed.
• Name: server-icon.png, all lower case, with a hyphen.
• Keep it simple: at 64 pixels a letter, a symbol or a bold shape works far better than a detailed logo with text.

Any image editor can resize an image; online tools that convert and resize to 64×64 PNG in one step exist as well.

Step 2: upload the file

1. Go to the game panel and click your server.
2. Open File Manager. You are in the server's root folder, the one that contains server.properties.
3. Click Upload and select server-icon.png.
4. Restart the server.

Step 3: check

Open Minecraft, go to Multiplayer and click Refresh. The icon appears next to your server. Players who already had the server in their list see it after their next refresh.

The icon does not show

• Wrong size: the console shows Couldn't load server icon or Must be 64 pixels wide and 64 pixels high. Resize to exactly 64×64.
• Wrong name: Server-Icon.png, server_icon.png or server-icon.PNG are not recognised. Rename to server-icon.png.
• Wrong folder: the file must be next to server.properties, not in world or plugins.
• Not a real PNG: a renamed JPG does not work. Export the file as PNG.
• No restart: the icon is read at start-up.
• A proxy in front of the server: with Velocity or BungeeCord the icon comes from the proxy's folder, not the backend server.

Different icons per server, or an animated feel

The vanilla icon is static and the same for everyone. Plugins such as MiniMOTD can rotate between several icons and MOTDs on every refresh, which gives the impression of animation. On a network, each backend can have its own icon while the proxy shows the network icon.

Make it match your MOTD

Icon and MOTD are shown together, so match colours and style: a gold icon with a gold MOTD, for example. How to set the MOTD is in changing your MOTD, and our blog article on MOTD and server icon shows what works in a crowded server list.

Stuck? Open a ticket and attach the icon you are trying to use.