Java's Project Lilliput shrinks object headers to cut memory and CPU usage

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OpenJDK's Project Lilliput aims to reduce the size of Java object headers — internal metadata attached to every object by the JVM — from 12–16 bytes down to 8 bytes. At scale, this seemingly small change can translate to significant savings: OpenJDK's own benchmarks report up to 22% less heap usage, 8% lower CPU consumption, and 15% fewer garbage collection cycles. The optimization also improves CPU cache efficiency by packing objects more tightly in memory. Developers do not need to modify their code to benefit, as the change is implemented entirely within the JVM itself. The feature shipped as experimental in Java 24 (JEP 450) and became an official, though still opt-in, HotSpot feature in Java 25 (JEP 519), with a proposal to enable it by default currently in draft.

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