The Different Types of Minecraft Lag

Several different types of lag may occur on your Minecraft server. The reasons for this can vary, so understanding the lag you are experiencing will help you troubleshoot and improve your server’s performance.

Connection Lag (Latency / Ping)

Connection lag is the delay or ping between a player’s device and your server. The higher the ping, the more lag a player experiences. If a player has high latency, it usually means that your server is physically located far away from them.

If possible, it’s recommended to position your server closer to where most of your players are located. If you have a server with players all over the world, you can try and find a central location to where everyone is and place your server there.

Client Lag

Client lag is measured using FPS (frames per second), which should not be confused with TPS. FPS measures how well the client device can display and process game frames. FPS solely depends on the client-side performance, and the server’s performance does not influence it.

Server Lag

One type of lag is server lag or TPS (Ticks Per Second) lag. You can measure server lag by checking the TPS rate, which can be obtained using the /tps command. As a server owner, you have control over this type of lag.

If your TPS is at 20, your server is running smoothly, and there is no need to make any changes. If the TPS ranges between 19.95 and 19.99, the lag is likely to be unnoticeable, and most servers run perfectly fine at this TPS rate.

When the TPS drops below 20 but remains above 18.00, the server takes slightly longer than usual to complete each tick. However, in most cases, this kind of lag isn’t noticeable and can be safely ignored. If your TPS falls below 18.00, it’s recommended to investigate further to identify and address any underlying causes affecting your server’s performance.

Once the TPS falls below 16.00, lag might become visible to players on your Minecraft server.

It might not be very noticeable at 16 TPS, but the lower the TPS goes, the more apparent it becomes.

Remember that you can only control server lag or TPS on your server. Although there are measures you can take to reduce other types of lag experienced by players on your server, some factors are beyond your control.