Do Java arrays have a maximum size?

Question

Is there a limit to the number of elements a Java array can contain? If so, what is it?

Answer 1

I tried to create a byte array like this

byte[] bytes = new byte[Integer.MAX_VALUE-x];
System.out.println(bytes.length);

With this run configuration:

-Xms4G -Xmx4G

And java version:

Openjdk version "1.8.0_141"

OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_141-b16)

OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.141-b16, mixed mode)

It only works for x >= 2 which means the maximum size of an array is Integer.MAX_VALUE-2

Values above that give

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Requested array size exceeds VM limit at Main.main(Main.java:6)