You can choose from a long list of Java versions and distributions if you use the 64-bit version of the Raspberry Pi Operating System. But this 64-bit OS is only available for Raspberry Pi board versions with an ARMv7 or ARMv8 processor.
You can check the installed Java version in the terminal. On a board with ARMv7 or ARMv8, with a correctly installed JDK, you will get this result:
$ java -version
openjdk version "11.0.3" 2019-04-16
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 11.0.3+7-post-Raspbian-5)
OpenJDK Server VM (build 11.0.3+7-post-Raspbian-5, mixed mode)
On an ARMv6 version, you will get an error:
$ java -version
Error occurred during initialization of VM
Server VM is only supported on ARMv7+ VFP
If you are not sure which type of board you have, you can check this in the terminal with cat /proc/cpuinfo, for instance for a Raspberry Pi B+ 1.2:
$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
model name : ARMv6-compatible processor rev 7 (v6l)
BogoMIPS : 697.95
Features : half thumb fastmult vfp edsp java tls
CPU implementer : 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant : 0x0
CPU part : 0xb76
CPU revision : 7
Hardware : BCM2835
Revision : 0010
Serial : 000000005f9ba615
Model : Raspberry Pi Model B Plus Rev 1.2
Because of changes in OpenJDK 21 (and newer), Java applications had problems on the Raspberry Pi Zero 2, 64-bit OS, with previous releases, see blog post Java 21+ Not Working on Zero 2. If you see one of the following errors, upgrade to Zulu 21 based on OpenJDK 21.0.8 (released on July 15, 2025) or Zulu 25 based on OpenJDK 25.0.0 (released on September 16, 2025). In these versions, the problem is fixed, as described in the blog post Java 21+ Working on RPi Zero 2.
$ java HelloWorld.java
An exception has occurred in the compiler ((version info not available)). Please file a bug against the Java compiler via the Java bug reporting page (https://bugreport.java.com) after checking the Bug Database (https://bugs.java.com) for duplicates. Include your program, the following diagnostic, and the parameters passed to the Java compiler in your report. Thank you.
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/sun/tools/javac/processing/JavacProcessingEnvironment$DiscoveredProcessors
at jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.processing.JavacProcessingEnvironment.initProcessorIterator(JavacProcessingEnvironment.java:331)
...
$ javac HelloWorld.java
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.InternalError: Cannot find requested resource bundle for locale en_US
at jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.util.JavacMessages.getBundles(JavacMessages.java:145)
...
If you can’t upgrade to a newer release, you can fix this problem by adding a few command-line options to disable the intrinsic that speeds up hash calculation, as this contains a bug which only affects the ARM Cortex-A53. The code interpreter and JIT compiler are unaffected.
java -XX:+UnlockDiagnosticVMOptions -XX:-UseVectorizedHashCodeIntrinsic HelloWorld.java
Hello World
The sources for Java are available as open-source on OpenJDK, which means, if you can’t find the correct version for a specific board, it is possible to compile it yourself. Luckily there are different suppliers providing ready-made packages of the JDK for multiple platforms. But only Azul seems to have one which is a perfect fit for Raspberry Pi’s with an ARMv6: the Zulu community edition of JDK 11.
To get started with Zulu JDK, download and uncompress it to your board:
$ cd /usr/lib/jvm
$ sudo wget https://cdn.azul.com/zulu-embedded/bin/zulu11.41.75-ca-jdk11.0.8-linux_aarch32hf.tar.gz
$ sudo tar -xzvf zulu11.41.75-ca-jdk11.0.8-linux_aarch32hf.tar.gz
$ sudo rm zulu11.41.75-ca-jdk11.0.8-linux_aarch32hf.tar.gz
$ ls -l
total 12
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 Jul 23 15:58 java-1.11.0-openjdk-armhf -> java-11-openjdk-armhf
drwxr-xr-x 9 root root 4096 Aug 20 11:41 java-11-openjdk-armhf
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Aug 20 11:41 openjdk-11
drwxrwxr-x 10 111 122 4096 Jul 10 16:50 zulu11.41.75-ca-jdk11.0.8-linux_aarch32hf
Now we have the JDK11 ready to be used, but it still needs to be configured, so the OS is aware of it.
$ sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/java java /usr/lib/jvm/zulu11.41.75-ca-jdk11.0.8-linux_aarch32hf/bin/java 1
$ sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/javac javac /usr/lib/jvm/zulu11.41.75-ca-jdk11.0.8-linux_aarch32hf/bin/javac 1
At this moment we can select the new JDK to link it to the “java” and “javac” command.
$ sudo update-alternatives --config java
There are 2 choices for the alternative java (providing /usr/bin/java).
Selection Path Priority Status
------------------------------------------------------------
* 0 /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-armhf/bin/java 1111 auto mode
1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-armhf/bin/java 1111 manual mode
2 /usr/lib/jvm/zulu11.41.75-ca-jdk11.0.8-linux_aarch32hf/bin/java 1 manual mode
Press <enter> to keep the current choice[*], or type selection number: 2
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/jvm/zulu11.41.75-ca-jdk11.0.8-linux_aarch32hf/bin/java to provide /usr/bin/java (java) in manual mode
$ sudo update-alternatives --config javac
There are 2 choices for the alternative javac (providing /usr/bin/javac).
Selection Path Priority Status
------------------------------------------------------------
* 0 /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-armhf/bin/javac 1111 auto mode
1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-armhf/bin/javac 1111 manual mode
2 /usr/lib/jvm/zulu11.41.75-ca-jdk11.0.8-linux_aarch32hf/bin/javac 1 manual mode
Press <enter> to keep the current choice[*], or type selection number: 2
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/jvm/zulu11.41.75-ca-jdk11.0.8-linux_aarch32hf/bin/javac to provide /usr/bin/javac (javac) in manual mode
Now let’s check the Java version:
$ java -version
openjdk version "11.0.8" 2020-07-14 LTS
OpenJDK Runtime Environment Zulu11.41+75-CA (build 11.0.8+10-LTS)
OpenJDK Client VM Zulu11.41+75-CA (build 11.0.8+10-LTS, mixed mode)
OK, ready to run Java 11 applications on the Raspberry Pi with ARMv6!
If you want more info, or use JavaFX, check these blog posts: