What is -XX:+UseCompressedOops in 64 bit JVM

-XX:+UseCompressedOops JVM command line option is one of the most talked options of 64 bit JVM. Though 64 bit JVM allows you to specify larger Java heap sizes it comes with a performance penalty by using 64 bit OOPS. Ordinary object pointers also known as OOPS which is used to represent Java objects in Virtual Machine has an increased width of 64 bit than smaller 32 bit from earlier 32 bit JVM. because of increased size of OOPS, fewer OOPS can be stored in CPU cache registers which effectively reduced CPU cache efficiency. -XX:+UseCompressedOops enables the use of compressed 32 bit OOPS in 64 bit JVM which effectively compensate performance penalty imposed by 64 bit JVM without scarifying heap size advantage offered by them. You should use -XX:+UseCompressedOops if maximum heap size specified by -Xmx is less than 32G. This is my 3^rd article on JVM after 10 JVM option Java programmer should know and  how to find 32 bit JVM or 64 bit JVM, I suggest reading those if you want to learn more about JVM.

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