JDK 26

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

Status

JDK 26 is in Rampdown Phase Two. The overall feature set is frozen. No further JEPs will be targeted to this release.

The stabilization branch, jdk26, is open for select bug fixes per the JDK Release Process (JEP 3). Late enhancements are still possible, with approval, but the bar is now extraordinarily high. Integrate most stabilization changes via backports from the main line.

Early-access binaries, under the GPL, are available here.

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

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)
Last update: 2026/1/16 13:53 UTC