Oracle expands availability of Java 8 performance pack

Oracle’s Java 8 Enterprise Performance Pack, a drop-in replacement for JDK 8 that promises to bring Java 17 performance to Java 8 workloads, is being made available on public download pages on Oracle.com, the company announced on April 18. Previously, the package was offered only through My Oracle Support for existing customers.

Production use of the Java 8 Enterprise Performance Pack requires either a paid Java SE subscription or to be running on Oracle Cloud. However, it is free for development, testing, prototyping on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and personal use. The pack is available for download under the Java SE OTN license.

This performance pack serves as a drop-in replacement for Java 8 workloads on Linux servers. Introduced by Oracle in October 2022, its goal is to bring better performance to legacy Java 8 server workloads. Significant boosts in performance and memory management were sought, allowing Java 8 users to leverage improvements brought to Java since Java 8 first arrived in March 2014.

Users of the Java 8 Enterprise Performance Pack have reported an approximate 20% performance increase without code or configuration changes. Even greater improvements can be achieved with simple configuration updates, according to Oracle.

Oracle highlights that the performance pack enhances various aspects of Java 8, including garbage collection, memory management, and execution performance. These enhancements aim to reduce latency, improve throughput, and optimize resource utilization.

The broader availability of the Java 8 Enterprise Performance Pack underscores Oracle’s commitment to supporting legacy Java versions while encouraging users to adopt more recent improvements. This initiative provides a pathway for enterprises to enhance their existing Java 8 applications without a complete overhaul, making it a valuable tool for maintaining and optimizing legacy systems.