docker-minecraft-server/docs/versions/java.md

Image tags

Image references can either omit the tag, which implies the tag latest, such as

itzg/minecraft-server

or explicitly include the tag, such as

itzg/minecraft-server:<tag>

where <tag> refers to the first column of this table:

Tag	Java version	Linux	JVM Type	Architecture
latest	21	Ubuntu	Hotspot	amd64, arm64
stable	21	Ubuntu	Hotspot	amd64, arm64
java21	21	Ubuntu	Hotspot	amd64, arm64
java21-jdk	21	Ubuntu	Hotspot+JDK	amd64, arm64
java21-alpine	21	Alpine	Hotspot	amd64, arm64
java21-graalvm	21	Oracle	Oracle GraalVM1	amd64, arm64
java17	17	Ubuntu	Hotspot	amd64, arm64, armv7
java17-graalvm	17	Oracle	Oracle GraalVM1	amd64, arm64
java17-alpine	17	Alpine	Hotspot	amd64 (1)
java11	11	Ubuntu	Hotspot	amd64, arm64, armv7
java8	8	Ubuntu	Hotspot	amd64, arm64, armv7
java8-jdk	8	Ubuntu	Hotspot+JDK	amd64
java8-openj9	8	Debian	OpenJ9	amd64
java8-graalvm-ce	8	Oracle	GraalVM CE	amd64

1. Why no arm64 for Java 17 Alpine? That is because the base images, such as elipse-temurin do not provide support for that. Use the Ubuntu based images instead.

!!! example "Example using java8"

With docker run command-line

```
docker run -it -e EULA=true itzg/minecraft-server:java8
```

or in a compose file

```yaml
services:
  mc:
    image: itzg/minecraft-server:java8
```

!!! note "Latest"

The "latest" tag shifts to include not only the latest features and bug fixes, but also the latest Java version that Mojang requires for the latest Minecraft version.

!!! tip "Class File Version"

If the Minecraft startup is logging an error about a "class file version", then refer [to this table](https://javaalmanac.io/bytecode/versions/) to identify the JDK/Java version corresponding to each class file version.

Release versions

Since the tags referenced above will shift as the newest image build brings in new features and bug fixes, released variants of those can also be used to pin a specific build of the image.

The syntax of released image tags is:

itzg/minecraft-server:<release>-<java tag>

where java tag still refers to the first column of the table above and release refers to one of the image releases.

!!! example

For example, the 2024.4.0 release of the Java 17 image would be

```
itzg/minecraft-server:2024.4.0-java17
```

Stable image tag

The stable image tag combines the benefits of latest and release versions since it shifts to refer to the most recently released version.

Version compatibilities

This section in the Minecraft wiki lists out versions of vanilla Minecraft versions and the corresponding Java version that is required.

Class file version 65.0

If encountering a startup failure similar to the following examples, then ensure that the latest image has been re-pulled to use a Java 21. Alternatively, set the image tag specifically to itzg/minecraft-server:java21.

Exception in thread "ServerMain" java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: org/bukkit/craftbukkit/Main has been compiled by a more recent version of the Java Runtime (class file version 65.0), this version of the Java Runtime only recognizes class file versions up to 61.0

or

Error: LinkageError occurred while loading main class net.minecraft.bundler.Main java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: net/minecraft/bundler/Main has been compiled by a more recent version of the Java Runtime (class file version 65.0), this version of the Java Runtime only recognizes class file versions up to 61.0

Forge versions

Forge and its mods sometimes utilize non-public APIs of the JVM and as such are suspceptible to becoming broken with newer Java versions.

Java 21

Some mods even up to Minecraft 1.21 require Java 17 and will not run on the latest Java version. If you see an error like the following then be sure to explicitly use a Java 17 tagged image:

Caused by: org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.throwables.ClassMetadataNotFoundException: java.util.List
	at MC-BOOTSTRAP/org.spongepowered.mixin/org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.transformer.MixinPreProcessorStandard.transformMethod(MixinPreProcessorStandard.java:754)

Java 8

For Forge versions less than 1.18, you must use the java8-multiarch (or other java8) image tag.

In general, if you see the following line in a server startup failure, then it means you need to be using Java 8 instead of the latest image Java version:

Caused by: java.lang.ClassCastException: class jdk.internal.loader.ClassLoaders$AppClassLoader 
   cannot be cast to class java.net.URLClassLoader

Forge also doesn't support openj9 JVM implementation.

Deprecated Image Tags

The following image tags have been deprecated and are no longer receiving updates:

• java19
• adopt13
• adopt14
• adopt15
• openj9-nightly
• multiarch-latest
• java16/java16-openj9
• java17-graalvm-ce
• java17-openj9
• java20-graalvm, java20, java20-alpine
• java8-multiarch is still built and pushed, but please move to java8 instead
• java8-alpine

---

1. Based on the Oracle GraalMV images, which as of JDK 17, are now under the GraalVM Free License incorporating what used to be known as the GraalVM Enterprise. ↩︎