How to link Nether portals
- Write down your Overworld portal coordinates. Stand inside the portal and press F3 (Java) or turn on "Show coordinates" in Bedrock world settings.
- Convert them. Enter X, Y and Z on the Overworld side. The calculator divides X and Z by 8 and rounds down.
- Build the Nether portal at those coordinates. Go through your portal, travel to the converted spot in the Nether and build a new portal there. If the game created a portal somewhere else, you can break it.
- Test it. Walk through the new Nether portal. You should come out of your original Overworld portal.
The formula
Overworld → Nether: Nether X = Overworld X ÷ 8, Nether Z = Overworld Z ÷ 8, rounded down.
Nether → Overworld: Overworld X = Nether X × 8, Overworld Z = Nether Z × 8.
Y stays the same in both directions.
Rounding down matters for negative numbers: −100 ÷ 8 = −12.5, which rounds down to −13, not −12. The calculator handles this for you.
Why portals sometimes link wrong
When you step through a portal, the game converts your position and looks for the nearest existing portal around that spot. In Java Edition the search covers 128 blocks around the target in the Overworld but only 16 blocks in the Nether. Because of the 8:1 scale, two Overworld portals that are close together can both lead to the same Nether portal. To avoid this:
- keep Overworld portals more than 128 blocks apart from each other,
- always build the Nether side manually at the calculated coordinates,
- keep both portals at a similar Y level.
Using the Nether as a fast travel network
Since every block walked in the Nether counts as eight in the Overworld, a tunnel of 125 blocks in the Nether covers 1,000 blocks in the Overworld. Many players build a central Nether hub with ice boat roads to each portal. Convert each base's coordinates here, then dig straight tunnels along the X and Z axes to connect them.