Java Rich Internet Applications Enhancement in JDK 8

This release introduces the following improvements for web-deployed applications:

The Java class file format has been updated because of JSR 292, Java Virtual Machine Support for Non-Java Languages. Consequently, the Pack200 engine has been updated accordingly to ensure that Java SE 8 class files are compressed effectively. In particular, the Pack200 engine now recognizes constant pool entries and new bytecodes introduced by JSR 292.

As a result, compressed files created with this version of pack200 will not be compatible with older versions of unpack200.

In general, if a compressed file contains Java SE 8 or Java SE 7 class files, then it will not be compatible with older unpackers. (For example, if a compressed file contains Java SE 7 class files, then it will not be compatible with unpackers from Java SE 6 or earlier.)

See Pack200 and Compression for Network Deployment and RFE 6981776.
The old Java Plug-in (the version available prior to Java SE 6 Update 10) has been removed from this release. See RFE 7076143.