Minecraft Java Edition – How to Choose the Zoom Level for the Map

minecraft-java-edition

According to both Notch's Twitter (no link) and the wiki, maps have some kind of settable zoom:

A zoom level, which will somehow be decided at the time the map is created.

I have no idea how to set this. Anyone know?

EDIT: based on fjdumont's answer, how is it calculated? Is there anything I can do (such as craft it in a certain place) to give it a zoom level close to what I want?

Best Answer

You can zoom map files, but you have to do it by editing your NBT files. This answer is thanks to this redditor:

If you're willing to dive deep into the NBT files, you can adjust the map's center and zoom levels. Just don't screw with dimension (locks the map) or width/height — it doesn't work. The files are under <map-name>/Data/map_X.dat, where X is the map number.

You'll need to use an editor like NBTEdit to edit the files.