What is a Minecraft MOTD?

MOTD stands for 'message of the day'. It is the short, often colorful text shown next to a server in the Minecraft multiplayer list. It is set in server.properties on the motd= line.

How do I add color to my Minecraft MOTD?

Use the §-section-sign character followed by a single hex digit or letter, for example §6 for gold or §l for bold. The MOTD maker inserts these codes for you.

How many lines can a Minecraft MOTD have?

Vanilla Minecraft renders up to two lines in the multiplayer server list. The maker shows a warning if your MOTD has more than two lines.

Why does my MOTD show '&l' as plain text instead of bold?

Minecraft expects the actual section-sign character (§), not the ampersand &. Switch the output mode to 'server.properties' and copy that value — it already converts & to § for you.

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Live preview · server.properties-ready

Minecraft MOTD Maker

Type, click, see. Insert §-color and formatting codes, watch the preview update, then copy a string ready for server.properties.

Live preview

Welcome to Playzor
Forge your Minecraft legacy

Editor

Use & followed by a code (for example &6 for gold, &l for bold). Press Enter for line 2.

Output

§6§lWelcome to §b§lPlayzor
§7Forge your Minecraft legacy

Colors

Formatting

Presets

How to make a Minecraft MOTD

Type your message in the editor. Press Enter to start a second line — vanilla Minecraft renders up to two lines in the multiplayer list.
Click a color swatch to insert &0–&f. Click a formatting chip for bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, or obfuscated.
Toggle the output to server.properties and copy the value. Paste it after motd= in your server.properties file. Save and restart the server.

Color & format reference

Code	Name	Hex
&0	Black	#000000
&1	Dark Blue	#0000AA
&2	Dark Green	#00AA00
&3	Dark Aqua	#00AAAA
&4	Dark Red	#AA0000
&5	Dark Purple	#AA00AA
&6	Gold	#FFAA00
&7	Gray	#AAAAAA
&8	Dark Gray	#555555
&9	Blue	#5555FF
&a	Green	#55FF55
&b	Aqua	#55FFFF
&c	Red	#FF5555
&d	Light Purple	#FF55FF
&e	Yellow	#FFFF55
&f	White	#FFFFFF
&k	Obfuscated	—
&l	Bold	—
&m	Strikethrough	—
&n	Underline	—
&o	Italic	—
&r	Reset	—

Common mistakes

Using & in server.properties — Minecraft expects the literal § character. The server.properties output mode handles this for you.
Putting the MOTD on a single line over ~45 characters — it will wrap and look uneven. Insert an explicit second line with Enter.
Forgetting that color codes reset all formatting flags — apply format codes after color codes in the same run.

Once your MOTD is live, you can verify it from anywhere using the Minecraft server status checker. If you need a server to put this MOTD on, take a look at Playzor Minecraft server hosting (plans from ₹199/month, with Mumbai and Singapore data centres).

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Live-check your MOTD

Once you've pasted the MOTD into server.properties, ping your server here and confirm it renders correctly.

Open status checker

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