JDK 26

This release is the Reference Implementation of version 26 of the Java SE Platform, as specified by JSR 401 in the Java Community Process.

The features and schedule of this release were proposed and tracked via the JEP Process, as amended by the JEP 2.0 proposal. The release was produced using the JDK Release Process (JEP 3).

Status

JDK 26 reached General Availability on 17 March 2026. Production-ready binaries under the GPL are available from Oracle; binaries from other vendors will follow shortly.

Features

500: Prepare to Make Final Mean Final

504: Remove the Applet API

516: Ahead-of-Time Object Caching with Any GC

517: HTTP/3 for the HTTP Client API

522: G1 GC: Improve Throughput by Reducing Synchronization

524: PEM Encodings of Cryptographic Objects (Second Preview)

525: Structured Concurrency (Sixth Preview)

526: Lazy Constants (Second Preview)

529: Vector API (Eleventh Incubator)

530: Primitive Types in Patterns, instanceof, and switch (Fourth Preview)

Schedule

2025/12/04 Rampdown Phase One (branch from main line)

2026/01/15 Rampdown Phase Two

2026/02/05 Initial Release Candidate

2026/02/19 Final Release Candidate

2026/03/17 General Availability

Last update: 2026/3/16 21:53 UTC

500:	Prepare to Make Final Mean Final
504:	Remove the Applet API
516:	Ahead-of-Time Object Caching with Any GC
517:	HTTP/3 for the HTTP Client API
522:	G1 GC: Improve Throughput by Reducing Synchronization
524:	PEM Encodings of Cryptographic Objects (Second Preview)
525:	Structured Concurrency (Sixth Preview)
526:	Lazy Constants (Second Preview)
529:	Vector API (Eleventh Incubator)
530:	Primitive Types in Patterns, instanceof, and switch (Fourth Preview)

2025/12/04		Rampdown Phase One (branch from main line)
2026/01/15		Rampdown Phase Two
2026/02/05		Initial Release Candidate
2026/02/19		Final Release Candidate
2026/03/17		General Availability