Minecraft wiki entry for Data_version, associated text: Every version of Java Edition since 15w32a, including minor releases and snapshots, has its own data version. The version takes the form of an ever-increasing positive integer unlike client versions. Data versions are necessary because client versions usually cannot be directly compared since they use different formats (i.e., "1.14" and "19w02a" cannot be compared). Data versions may skip numbers between any release.