Why You Should Lower Your Minecraft Server View Distance (And How to Do It)

If your Minecraft server is feeling laggy or sluggish, the very first thing you should check is your View Distance setting. Many players crank this number up thinking it improves gameplay — but the truth is, a high view distance can wreck your server performance.

This article explains why it’s not good to use a large View Distance, shows you how to change it, and walks you through the math behind the chunk loading system.

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🧠 What Is View Distance in Minecraft?

View Distance is a setting that controls how far players can see in terms of loaded chunks. Each chunk is a 16×16 block section of the world. The higher the value, the more chunks are loaded around each player.

But here’s the catch:

More chunks = more memory + more CPU.

For example, if your server View Distance is set too high and you have 5+ players online, your server might lag hard or even crash if it runs out of RAM or CPU power.

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🚫 Why High View Distance Is a Bad Idea

Here’s why keeping the View Distance small is usually the smarter move:

View Distance	Chunks Loaded per Player	Performance Impact
4	81	Low
6	169	Medium-Low
8	289	Moderate
10	441	High
12	625	Very High
16	1089	EXTREME (avoid!)

The math? It’s simple:

(viewDistance + viewDistance + 1)²

So for a View Distance of 10:

(10 + 10 + 1)² = 21² = 441 chunks per player

That adds up really fast with more players.

The Real Reason: Being Progressive

Whether it is View Distance or Simulation Distance, increasing the View Distance on a server-side environment will lead to lag if you do not take the necessary measures to handle it.

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🛠️ How to Change Your Minecraft Server View Distance

Follow these steps to change the View Distance on your Minecraft server (Java Edition):

1. Log in to your Pterodactyl panel and stop your server.
2. Go to Server Properties.
3. Find the View Distance option.
4. Set it to a lower number (we recommend 6–8 for most servers).
5. Click Save and restart your server.

Boom. Better performance, instantly.

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🔧 Extra Tip: spigot.yml Also Affects View Distance

If you’re using a server type like Paper, Spigot, PurPur, Magma, or Mohist, you also need to adjust the spigot.yml file:

1. Log into your Pterodactyl panel and stop your server.
2. Click on Files, then open spigot.yml.
3. Find view-distance: and change the number (default is 10).
   • Valid range: 1 to 15
4. Match this with your main server View Distance setting.
5. Save and restart the server.

This setting controls chunk generation, not just visibility — if it’s set too low, you’ll get invisible world borders even if your main setting is high.

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✅ Best View Distance Settings by Server Size

Player Count	Recommended View Distance
1–5	6–8
6–10	6
11+	4–6
Modded Server	4

Lower = smoother gameplay, happier players.

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🎯 Final Thoughts

Running Minecraft smoothly is all about smart optimization, not just maxing out settings.

If your world looks foggy or “short” after lowering view distance — don’t worry. You’re actually boosting performance for everyone.

Want better gameplay without lag? Lower your view distance. That’s it.

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📌 FAQ

🔹 Does lowering View Distance remove chunks?

No, it just temporarily hides them. Chunks are still saved on your world file.

🔹 Is 16 a good View Distance?

Only for singleplayer or local LAN worlds. For servers, it causes serious lag.

🔹 What’s the lowest View Distance I can use?

1 — but we recommend 4 to 6 for stable gameplay on busy servers.

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Want smoother performance? Lower that view distance and enjoy the game again.

Need help tweaking your settings? GGServers support is here for you 24/7.