Java 26 Brings Enhanced Security and Networking Capabilities with New Cryptography API and HTTP/3 Support

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Oracle has announced the release of JDK 26, the latest version of the Java Development Kit, which introduces several significant features and improvements.

Key Features and Improvements

This release marks the 17th consecutive feature release under the six-month cadence adopted by the project in 2018.

New Cryptography API

One of the notable additions in JDK 26 is the introduction of a new cryptography API, which provides a standardized way of encoding and decoding cryptographic objects in the Privacy-Enhanced Mail (PEM) format.

This API aims to reduce manual encoding errors and improve interoperability with systems that use PEM as a standard format for key material exchange.

HTTP/3 Support

Another significant feature in JDK 26 is the addition of HTTP/3 support to the HTTP Client API.

This update enables applications to interact with HTTP/3 servers with minimal code changes, targeting microservices and API-driven workloads where lower network latency is crucial.

Other Enhancements and Updates

In addition to these features, JDK 26 includes several other enhancements, such as hybrid public key encryption support, post-quantum-ready JAR signing, and improved controls for cryptographic algorithms and legacy keystores.

The release also includes updates to the garbage collector and startup improvements, aimed at reducing synchronization between application threads and the G1 garbage collector, and extending ahead-of-time object caching to work with any garbage collector.

Language and Library Previews

The language and library previews in JDK 26 include the fourth preview of primitive types in patterns, instanceof, and switch expressions, as well as the second preview of lazy constants and the sixth preview of structured concurrency.

These previews aim to improve the performance and reliability of Java applications.

Removal of Applet API

JDK 26 also marks the removal of the Applet API, which was deprecated for removal in JDK 17.

This removal reduces the platform surface area and eliminates code that had no browser execution path remaining.

Collaborative Effort

The release of JDK 26 is the result of a collaborative effort between Oracle engineers and contributors from various organizations, including Alibaba, ARM, Google, IBM, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Red Hat, and SAP.

Of the 2,535 JIRA issues marked fixed in JDK 26, Oracle engineers resolved 1,729, while the remaining 806 came from external contributors.

Oracle Java Verified Portfolio

Alongside the JDK release, Oracle has launched the Oracle Java Verified Portfolio, a curated set of supported components that includes JavaFX commercial support, the Helidon microservices framework, and the Java Platform Extension for Visual Studio Code.

Oracle is also restoring commercial support for JavaFX, which will cover all new Java versions and all versions under active long-term support.