How to Find a Player's UUID in Minecraft

A Minecraft player’s UUID is a unique identifier that Mojang assigns to every account. It follows that player regardless of username changes, which is why server administrators rely on UUIDs for whitelists, permissions, and bans — usernames alone aren’t reliable enough to track a specific player over time.

Finding a UUID is straightforward once you know where to look. It can be pulled from server logs, retrieved from the playerdata folder, or looked up instantly through third-party tools by entering a username. This guide covers each method for both Java and Bedrock Edition.

Running your own server? Physgun’s Minecraft server hosting gives you direct access to your server console and log files, making it easy to look up player UUIDs right from the panel.

Before You Start: Check online-mode

Before looking up UUIDs, verify that online-mode=true is set in your server.properties. When online mode is enabled, every player is authenticated against Mojang’s servers and assigned their official UUID. If online mode is disabled, the server generates local UUIDs that won’t match Mojang’s records or third-party lookup tools.

Java Edition: Finding a Player’s UUID

Method 1: Server Logs

The easiest way to find a UUID — no tools required. When a player joins your server, their UUID is printed to the console log:

UUID of player Steve is a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-1234-567890abcdef

On the Physgun Gamepanel, open the Console tab and search for the player’s name. On a self-hosted server, check logs/latest.log in your server’s root directory.

Method 2: The playerdata Folder

Every player who has joined your server has a file in the world/playerdata/ directory named after their UUID:

world/
  playerdata/
    a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-1234-567890abcdef.dat

The filename (without the .dat extension) is the player’s UUID. If you know which player you’re looking for, cross-reference the file’s last-modified timestamp against when they last logged in to identify the correct file.

Method 3: UUID Lookup Websites

If the player hasn’t joined recently and you don’t have logs, you can look up their UUID by username using a tool like mcuuid.net. These sites query Mojang’s public API and return the UUID for any valid Java Edition account.

To use them:

Enter the player’s exact username (capitalization matters).
Copy the UUID returned — it will be in the standard hyphenated format (e.g. a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-1234-567890abcdef).
Cross-check against your server logs or playerdata folder if accuracy is critical.

Note: These tools only work for online-mode accounts. Offline-mode players will not appear in Mojang’s API and may return no results or incorrect data.

Method 4: Mojang’s Official API

For the most reliable result, query Mojang’s API directly in your browser:

https://api.mojang.com/users/profiles/minecraft/<username>

This returns a JSON response containing the player’s UUID in the id field (without hyphens). Add hyphens at positions 8, 12, 16, and 20 to convert it to the standard format.

Bedrock Edition: Finding a Player’s UUID

Bedrock Edition handles player identifiers differently. UUIDs are tied to platform accounts (Xbox Live, PlayStation Network) and are not exposed the same way as in Java Edition.

Options for Bedrock servers:

Server logs: Some Bedrock server software (like PocketMine-MP or Nukkit) logs player UUIDs on join, similar to Java Edition. Check your server’s console output when the player connects.
Bedrock-specific plugins: Plugins for PocketMine-MP and similar platforms can expose player UUIDs through commands or admin interfaces.
Cross-play proxies: If you’re running a proxy like GeyserMC, consult its documentation for how it handles Bedrock player identifiers.

Note that Xbox Live gamertags and PlayStation names are not universally tied to UUIDs in the same way Java accounts are, and cross-play setups may not always expose these identifiers for offline or unverified accounts.

Using UUIDs in Server Configurations

Once you have a UUID, common uses include:

Whitelist: Add it to whitelist.json directly.
Ops list: Add it to ops.json with the desired permission level.
Ban list: Add it to banned-players.json to ban by UUID rather than username, which persists across name changes.
Plugins: Most permission plugins (LuckPerms, etc.) accept UUIDs for player lookups and group assignments.

Always use the hyphenated UUID format (a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-1234-567890abcdef) in config files unless the plugin specifies otherwise.

Troubleshooting

UUID not found in logs
The player may not have joined while the current log file was active. Check archived logs in the logs/ folder, or use a lookup tool if online-mode is enabled.

Lookup tool returns no result
The username may be spelled incorrectly, or the account may be an offline-mode player with no Mojang profile. Double-check the spelling and verify online-mode is enabled.

Plugin shows a different UUID than expected
If your server was previously running in offline-mode and switched to online-mode (or vice versa), stored UUIDs may not match. Player data files may need to be renamed to reflect the correct online-mode UUID.