What is the default max heap size (-Xmx) in Java 8?

Question

In the oracle documentation I found:

-Xmxsize Specifies the maximum size (in bytes) of the memory allocation pool in bytes ... The default value is chosen at runtime based on system configuration.

What does system configuration mean?

Answer 1

It varies on implementation and version, but usually it depends on the VM used (e.g. client or server, see -client and -server parameters) and on your system memory.

Often for client the default value is 1/4th of your physical memory or 1GB (whichever is smaller).

Also Java configuration options (command line parameters) can be "outsourced" to environment variables including the -Xmx, which can change the default (meaning specify a new default). Specifically the JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS environment variable is checked by all Java tools and used if exists (more details here and here).

You can run the following command to see default values:

java -XX:+PrintFlagsFinal -version 

It gives you a loooong list, -Xmx is in MaxHeapSize, -Xms is in InitialHeapSize. Filter your output (e.g. |grep on linux) or save it in a file so you can search in it.