The Java Development Kit (JDK) 25 is approaching its official debut as a long-term support (LTS) release, with the first release candidate already published. This milestone signals the start of the final stabilization phase, where only critical issues will be addressed before the platform’s general availability on September 16. Oracle has confirmed that, as with previous LTS editions, JDK 25 will benefit from at least five years of Premier support.

A look at the release schedule

This version follows the short-lived JDK 24, which shipped in March 2024 with a six-month support window. The second release candidate for JDK 25 is planned for August 21. LTS releases such as this one are particularly important for enterprises because they offer a stable foundation for long-term projects. The last LTS release was JDK 21 in September 2023.

Highlights of JDK 25

The new version bundles 18 features, ranging from runtime and performance improvements to modernized APIs. Among the most notable are:

• JFR CPU-time profiling on Linux – The Java Flight Recorder (JFR) can now capture CPU usage more accurately using the Linux kernel’s CPU timer. This is expected to help developers fine-tune application performance. Other operating systems may gain this capability in later releases.
• Privacy-Enhanced Mail (PEM) support – A straightforward API for encoding and decoding cryptographic keys, certificates, and revocation lists in the PEM format, bridging a gap that Java developers have faced for years. It supports common binary representations such as PKCS#8 and X.509.
• Generational Shenandoah GC – Once experimental, the Shenandoah garbage collector now officially supports generational collection, bringing better memory utilization, resilience under load, and higher throughput. Users who tested the feature during JDK 24 have reported stability improvements.
• Ahead-of-Time (AOT) improvements – Both ergonomics for command-line use and method profiling have been enhanced. Developers can create AOT caches more easily, and method execution profiles from prior runs can be reused, allowing the JIT compiler to optimize code immediately on startup.
• Scoped and stable values – New APIs provide safer ways of managing values in concurrent programming, complementing structured concurrency, another major addition designed to simplify managing asynchronous tasks.
• Vector API – Continues to evolve, enabling developers to express vector computations that can be mapped efficiently to modern CPU instructions.
• Simplified language features – This includes module import declarations, compact source files, flexible constructor bodies, and support for instance main methods, all aimed at reducing boilerplate.
• Pattern matching previews – A third preview of primitive types in patterns, instanceof, and switch continues Java’s push toward more expressive and concise syntax.
• 32-bit x86 removal – Support for the legacy architecture has been dropped, reflecting the platform’s shift toward modern hardware.

More on Flight Recorder enhancements

In addition to CPU-time profiling, JDK 25 includes JFR cooperative sampling, which improves stability when collecting thread stack traces asynchronously, and JFR method timing and tracing, allowing developers to capture detailed statistics for chosen methods without bytecode instrumentation. Together, these improvements make JFR a more powerful and less intrusive diagnostic tool.

Why this release matters

For developers, JDK 25 delivers both performance optimizations and developer productivity gains. Whether it’s faster warm-ups thanks to AOT method profiling, cleaner APIs for cryptography, or more efficient garbage collection, this release is designed to make Java applications more scalable and easier to maintain.

Early adopters can already download builds from jdk.java.net. With its status as an LTS release, JDK 25 is expected to be the backbone of Java development for years to come.