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1995 - 2017
Java Applets
“Loading Java…”
- Birth year
- 1995
- Shutdown year
- 2017
- Lifespan
- 22 years
- Peak era
- 1997-2008
- Company
- Sun Microsystems / Oracle
- Category
- Browser Add-ons
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What Was It?
Java applets were small programs that ran inside a box on a web page. In the years before modern JavaScript, they powered browser games, chat rooms, physics simulations, stock tickers, online banking forms and the occasional spinning 3D logo.
Introduced with the first version of Java in 1995, an applet usually announced itself with a grey rectangle, a loading animation and, later, a security prompt asking whether to trust the publisher. RuneScape and countless school science sites ran this way.
Browsers began removing support for the plug-in technology applets relied on in 2013, and by 2015 to 2017 they no longer ran in mainstream browsers. Java 9 deprecated them in 2017, and they were finally removed from Java itself in 2026.
Things You Probably Forgot
- A grey box with a loading coffee cup
- Security warnings asking whether to run the application
- Physics simulations on school science sites
- Updating Java, again
The Story
- 1995 Applets arrived with the first version of the Java language.
- 2001 RuneScape launched as a Java-based browser game.
- 2013 Major browsers began phasing out the NPAPI plug-ins applets relied on.
- 2017 Java 9 deprecated the applet API.
- 2026 Applets were removed from Java in Java 26.
How It Died
Major browsers phased out the NPAPI plug-in system from 2013, leaving applets unable to run by 2015–2017. Java deprecated applets in Java 9 (2017) and removed them in Java 26 (2026).
What Replaced It?
Memories
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