The JDK is the Java Development Kit, the full-featured SDK for Java. It has everything the JRE has, but also the compiler (javac) and tools (like javadoc and jdb). It is capable of creating and compiling programs.

For full information and terms, refer to the OTN License Agreement for Java SE. The OTN License Agreement for Java SE for current Oracle Java SE releases allows them to be used, without cost:

  • (i) For personal use on a desktop or laptop computer, such as to play games or run other personal applications.
  • (ii) For development, testing, prototyping, and demonstrating applications, including to use by/with profilers, debuggers, and Integrated Development Environment tools.
  • (iii) For use with some approved products, such as Oracle SQL Developer, or as an end user of a software application created by an approved product. (referred to as "Schedule A" and "Schedule B" Products in the OTN License Agreement for Java SE)
  • (iv) With identified Oracle Cloud Infrastructure products.

The new Oracle Technology Network License Agreement for Oracle Java SE is substantially different from prior Oracle JDK licenses. The new license permits certain uses, such as personal use and development use, at no cost – but other uses authorized under prior Oracle JDK licenses may no longer be available.

The latest version of Java is Java 20 or JDK 20 released on March, 2023. However, many versions of Java are actively maintained for compatibility purposes. Java 8, Java 11 and Java 17 are the three long-term support versions recommended by Oracle. You can download the version you need below:

Java 8 is the last free software public update for commercial use, which explains why it remains popular. Oracle plans to maintain it until at least 2030. Also, you should know that some applications might refer to Java 8 as version 1.8.0.

Sometimes, even if you are not planning to do any Java development on a computer, you still need the JDK installed. For example, if you are deploying a web application with JSP, you are technically just running Java programs inside the application server. Why would you need the JDK then? Because the application server will convert JSP into Java servlets and needs to use the JDK to compile the servlets.

What's New

The full version string for this update release is 16.0.2+7 (where "+" means "build"). The version number is 16.0.2.

Complete release notes for Java SE JDK 16.0.2 can be found here.

This section describes some of the enhancements in Java SE 16 and JDK 16. In some cases, the descriptions provide links to additional detailed information about an issue or a change. The APIs described here are those that are provided with the Oracle JDK. It includes a complete implementation of the Java SE 16 Platform and additional Java APIs to support developing, debugging, and monitoring Java applications. Another source of information about important enhancements and new features in Java SE 16 and JDK 16 is the Java SE 16 (âJSR 391) Platform Specification, which documents the changes to the specification made between Java SE 15 and Java SE 16. This document includes descriptions of those new features and enhancements that are also changes to the specification. The descriptions also identify potential compatibility issues that you might encounter when migrating to JDK 16.

IANA TZ Data 2021a

  • JDK 16.0.2 contains IANA time zone data 2021a.

JEP 389: Foreign Linker API (Incubator)

  • Introduce an API that offers statically-typed, pure-Java access to native code. This API, together with the Foreign-Memory API (JEP 393), will considerably simplify the otherwise error-prone process of binding to a native library.

JEP 396: Strongly Encapsulate JDK Internals by Default

  • Strongly encapsulate all internal elements of the JDK by default, except for critical internal APIs such as sun.misc.Unsafe. Allow end users to choose the relaxed strong encapsulation that has been the default since JDK 9.
  • With this change, the default value of the launcher option --illegal-access is now deny rather than permit. As a consequence, existing code that uses most internal classes, methods, or fields of the JDK will fail to run. Such code can be made to run on JDK 16 by specifying --illegal-access=permit. That option will, however, be removed in a future release.

JEP 393: Foreign-Memory Access API (Third Incubator)

  • Introduce an API to allow Java programs to safely and efficiently access foreign memory outside of the Java heap.

JEP 390: Warnings for Value-based Classes

  • Users of the value-based classes provided by the standard libraries---notably including users of the primitive wrapper classes---should avoid relying on the identity of class instances. Programmers are strongly discouraged from calling the wrapper class constructors, which are now deprecated for removal. New javac warnings discourage synchronization on value-based class instances. Runtime warnings about synchronization can also be activated, using command-line option -XX:DiagnoseSyncOnValueBasedClasses.

Complete release notes here.