Minecraft may sometimes crash without being run by a relatively modern version of Java.

Since Java Edition 1.18( 1.18 Pre-release 2), Minecraft requires Java 17 or newer.

From Java Edition 1.17( 21w19a) to Java Edition 1.17.1(1.18: 1.18 Pre-release 1), Minecraft requires Java 16 or newer.

Different Minecraft versions have different requirements of minimum Java version.

Installing the latest Java update ensures that Minecraft continues to run safely and efficiently. The latest versions of Java contain important enhancements to help improve performance, stability and security of the Java applications that run on your machine.

If you use a custom JVM, you should notice that the official launcher only allow the custom JVM with the same primary Java version as the minimum required Java version to launch the game. Minecraft is written in Java, and uses it for game logic, rendering, and networking.ДЄs of May 7, 2022, the latest stable Java versions are 1.8.0_333 (Oracle JDK) / 1.8.0_332 (OpenJDK) (Long-Term Support or LTS), 11.0.15 (LTS), 17.0.3 (LTS) and 18.0.1 (Short-Term Support or STS), while the latest development build is version 19 early-access build 21. Unlike many other languages, Java does not run directly on the hardware, but in a virtual machine, called the JVM (Java Virtual Machine).

Java is a programming language and computing platform.

Java se development kit 7 update 51