Nether Travel: Coordinates and Portal Linking Explained
Divide Overworld X and Z by 8, rounding down, for the Nether side. Build both portals by hand at matching heights so each one links to its partner.
The game never saves which portal pairs with which. Every time you step through, it converts your position, searches around the result for a lit portal, and sends you to the closest one. If it finds nothing, it builds a new portal wherever it can. Every mislink traces back to one of those three steps.
Converting coordinates both ways
- Overworld to Nether: divide X and Z by 8, then round down.
- Nether to Overworld: multiply X and Z by 8.
- Y is never scaled. A portal at Y 70 in one dimension aims for Y 70 in the other.
| Overworld X | Overworld Z | Nether X | Nether Z |
|---|---|---|---|
| 800 | -400 | 100 | -50 |
| 700 | 300 | 87 | 37 |
| -100 | 250 | -13 | 31 |
| 1500 | -1000 | 187 | -125 |
"Round down" means toward the more negative number: -100 divided by 8 is -12.5, and the game uses -13. On positive numbers it drops the fraction, so 87.5 becomes 87. Being a block out does no harm, but a flipped minus sign sends you to the wrong side of the map.
Take your numbers standing in the portal's opening before you light it, because the game converts the spot where you enter. Reading the F3 screen is covered in coordinates, compasses and lodestones, and the Nether portal calculator does the division for you.
How the game picks where you come out
- 1.It converts your position, keeping X and Z inside the world border.
- 2.It looks for lit portals in a square around that point, covering the full height of the dimension.
- 3.It picks the closest one by straight-line distance, and height counts toward that distance.
- 4.If there is none, it creates a portal at the closest open spot within 16 blocks horizontally, at any height. If nowhere fits, it forces one at the target with Y held between 70 and 118 in the Nether (310 in the Overworld) on a small Obsidian platform.
| Arriving in | Search radius on X and Z | Same distance in the other dimension |
|---|---|---|
| Nether | 16 blocks | 128 Overworld blocks |
| Overworld | 128 blocks | 16 Nether blocks |
The two searches cover the same ground once you apply the ratio. Before Java Edition 1.16.2 the Nether search was 128 blocks too, which is where the old advice to keep Overworld portals 1,024 blocks apart comes from. It no longer applies.
Linking two portals by hand
- 1.Build the Overworld portal frame where you want to arrive. Before you light it, stand in the opening and write down X, Y and Z. In Survival a lit portal pulls you through after 4 seconds, before the Nether side exists. Light it, but don't walk through yet.
- 2.Convert X and Z.
- 3.Get to that point in the Nether, through a portal you already have or by tunnelling from your hub.
- 4.Build the Nether portal so its opening covers those X and Z, as close to the Overworld Y as the terrain allows, and light it with Flint and Steel.
- 5.Test both directions before you break anything.
If you walk through a new Overworld portal with nothing on the Nether side, the game generates a portal within 16 blocks of the target. It links, but it can sit in a cliff face or above lava. Build your own at the exact spot, then break the generated one. Frame sizes and the bucket method are in how to make a Nether portal.
Why height matters
Because the search measures straight-line distance, a portal far above or below you can lose to one off to the side. Take two bases 40 blocks apart: their Nether points are 5 blocks apart. If base A's Nether portal sits at Y 110 and base B's at Y 64, stepping into A's Overworld portal at Y 64 takes you to B's, which is 5 blocks away at your height while A's is 46 blocks straight up. Keep each Nether portal near its partner's Y, or give close pairs more horizontal space.
Fixing a portal that links to the wrong place
| What happens | Why | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Two Overworld portals lead to the same Nether portal | They are less than about 128 blocks apart, so both converted points land within 16 blocks of it | Build a second Nether portal at the other base's converted coordinates |
| The return trip drops you at a different Overworld portal | That portal is closer to your Nether portal's position times 8 | Move this Nether portal to the exact converted X and Z of the Overworld portal you want, near its Y |
| You arrive inside a wall, up a cliff or on a floating Obsidian platform | No portal was in range, so the game generated one | Build the destination by hand, then break the generated one |
| You come out of a portal stacked above or below the right one | The height difference made the other portal closer | Match Y, or move one portal sideways |
Nothing needs resetting, because links are worked out again on every trip. To retire a stray portal, break any Obsidian block on its sides, top or bottom (not a corner) and the whole portal goes dark.
Planning a Nether highway
These times use the sprint speed of 5.612 blocks per second.
| Overworld distance | Nether distance | Sprinting in the Nether | Sprinting in the Overworld |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | 125 | about 22 seconds | about 3 minutes |
| 2,000 | 250 | about 45 seconds | about 6 minutes |
| 5,000 | 625 | about 1 minute 51 seconds | about 15 minutes |
| 10,000 | 1,250 | about 3 minutes 43 seconds | about 30 minutes |
Habits that keep a highway usable:
- Run each tunnel along one axis. A tunnel heading due east changes only X, so you track progress against one number. Turn corners at right angles.
- Keep the floor at one height near your portals' Y. Nether lava seas sit at Y 31 and below, and the Overworld ocean surface is at Y 62. A tunnel floor a little above that clears the lava and keeps Nether portals close in height to surface portals.
- Label the ends. Put both sets of coordinates on a sign at every portal.
- Don't rely on a Compass or Map. An ordinary Compass spins in the Nether and a Map shows static. A Lodestone Compass only points while you are in its Lodestone's dimension, so bind one to a Lodestone in your Nether hub.
- Wear one piece of golden armour. Adult piglins then stay neutral unless you attack one, open or break a container such as a Chest, Barrel or Shulker Box, or mine a Block of Gold, Gilded Blackstone or any gold ore near them, Nether Gold Ore included. Piglin Brutes attack even with gold on.
For the next step, how to build a Nether hub and the Nether portal hub build gather every tunnel in one room, and ice boat highways make the tunnels themselves faster.