What is the difference between JDK, JRE and JVM?
| Name | Full name | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| JVM | Java Virtual Machine | Runs the bytecode and manages memory (garbage collection) |
| JRE | Java Runtime Environment | The JVM plus the class libraries, to run Java programs |
| JDK | Java Development Kit | The JRE plus tools to develop: javac, jar, javadoc and others |
In short: JDK contains JRE, and JRE contains JVM. To write programs you need the JDK. Today the downloads of Java are JDKs, and a separate JRE is no longer given for new versions.
Terminal
$ javac -version
javac 25.0.5
$ java -version 2>&1 | head -1
openjdk version "25.0.5" 2026-10-20 LTS
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