diff --git a/core/src/SaveMigration.cpp b/core/src/SaveMigration.cpp
index f022385..a6c412f 100644
--- a/core/src/SaveMigration.cpp
+++ b/core/src/SaveMigration.cpp
@@ -628,3 +628,80 @@ MigrationPlan SaveMigrator::planFor(SaveVersion from, SaveVersion to) {
     return plan;
 }
 
+bool SaveMigrator::applyStep(const ByteBuffer& in, const MigrationStep& step,
+                             MigrationResult& result, ByteBuffer& out) const {
+    SaveContainer container;
+    if (!readSaveContainer(in.data(), in.size(), container)) {
+        result.failure = "container is not readable at " + std::string(saveVersionName(step.from));
+        return false;
+    }
+    if (container.version != step.from) {
+        result.failure = "expected " + std::string(saveVersionName(step.from)) + " but found " +
+                         saveVersionName(container.version);
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    for (SaveChunkRecord& record : container.chunks) {
+        if (step.to == SaveVersion::V2) {
+            std::vector<Block> palette;
+            std::vector<uint32_t> indices;
+            buildPalette(record.blocks, palette, indices);
+            result.paletteEntriesCreated += palette.size();
+        } else if (step.to == SaveVersion::V3) {
+            record.light = defaultChunkLight(record.blocks, skyLightForNewPlanes);
+            result.lightCellsInitialized += record.light.size();
+        } else {
+            record.meta = metadataDefaults;
+            ++result.metadataRecordsCreated;
+        }
+    }
+
+    container.version = step.to;
+    container.compressPayloads = compressMigratedPayloads && step.to == currentSaveVersion;
+    out = writeSaveContainer(container);
+    return true;
+}
+
+MigrationResult SaveMigrator::migrate(const uint8_t* data, std::size_t size,
+                                      SaveVersion target) const {
+    MigrationResult result;
+    result.to = target;
+
+    SaveVersion from = currentSaveVersion;
+    if (!peekVersion(data, size, from)) {
+        result.failure = "save header is unreadable: bad magic, short buffer or unknown version";
+        return result;
+    }
+    result.from = from;
+
+    MigrationPlan plan = planFor(from, target);
+    if (!plan.possible) {
+        result.failure = plan.refusal;
+        return result;
+    }
+
+    SaveContainer source;
+    if (!readSaveContainer(data, size, source)) {
+        result.failure = "save body is unreadable at " + std::string(saveVersionName(from));
+        return result;
+    }
+    result.chunksMigrated = source.chunks.size();
+
+    ByteBuffer current(data, data + size);
+    for (const MigrationStep& step : plan.steps) {
+        ByteBuffer next;
+        if (!applyStep(current, step, result, next)) return result;
+        current = std::move(next);
+        result.applied.push_back(step);
+    }
+
+    result.output = std::move(current);
+    result.ok = true;
+    return result;
+}
+
+MigrationResult SaveMigrator::migrateToCurrent(const ByteBuffer& buffer) const {
+    return migrate(buffer.data(), buffer.size(), currentSaveVersion);
+}
+
+} // namespace vf