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Java 16 will be was released in March 2021. It is not an LTS release and will be obsoleted at the release of Java 17 in September 2021.This is probably the last release in which preview features could be introduced in time for their inclusion in Java 17, the next LTS release.

Status: Rampdown Phase TwoGeneral Availability

Page last updated: 2021-0102-1508, EA 3135

Schedule:

• 2020-12-10 Rampdown Phase One

• 2021-01-14 Rampdown Phase Two

• 2021-02-04 Initial Release Candidate

• 2021-02-18 Final Release Candidate

• 2021-03-16 General Availability

Resources

• Java 16 Early-Access Builds (note: OpenJDK builds only; no Oracle builds)

• Release notes

• Jave SE 16 Platform

Selected Changes Targeted to Java 16

• JEP 357: Migrate from Mercurial to Git

• JEP 369: Migrate to GitHub

• JEP 380: Unix-Domain Socket Channels

• JEP 386: Alpine Linux Port

• JEP 390: Warnings for Value-Based Classes

• JEP 394: Pattern Matching for instanceof

• JEP 395: Records

• JEP 396: Strongly Encapsulate JDK Internals by Default

• JEP 397: Sealed Classes (Second Preview)