java Difference between JDK, JRE, and JVM jdk We must understand the differences between JDK, JRE, and JVM before proceeding further to Java . See the brief overview of JVM here. If you want to get the detailed knowledge of Java Virtual Machine, move to the next page. Firstly, let's see the differences between the JDK, JRE, and JVM. JVM JVM (Java Virtual Machine) is an abstract machine. It is called a virtual machine because it doesn't physically exist. It is a specification that provides a runtime environment in which Java bytecode can be executed. It can also run those programs which are written in other languages and compiled to Java bytecode. JVMs are available for many hardware and software platforms. JVM, JRE, and JDK are platform dependent because the configuration of each OS is different from each other. However, Java is platform independent. There are three notions of the JVM: specification , implementation , and instance . The JVM performs the following main t