java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError org/springframework/boot/loader/JarLauncher has been compiled by a more recent version of the Java Runtime

I understand that this question has been asked many times in Stack Overflow and I have researched many of them, so please check this.

vinays@Vinays-MacBook-Pro demo % java -jar target/spring-boot-hello-1.0.jar
Error: A JNI error has occurred, please check your installation and try again
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: org/springframework/boot/loader/JarLauncher has been compiled by a more recent version of the Java Runtime (class file version 61.0), this version of the Java Runtime only recognizes class file versions up to 52.0
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:756)
    at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:142)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:468)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$100(URLClassLoader.java:74)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:369)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:363)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:362)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:418)
    at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:352)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:351)
    at sun.launcher.LauncherHelper.checkAndLoadMain(LauncherHelper.java:601)
vinays@Vinays-MacBook-Pro demo % 

My pom file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0
            http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">

    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <artifactId>spring-boot-hello</artifactId>
    <packaging>jar</packaging>
    <name>Spring Boot Hello World Example</name>
    <version>1.0</version>
    <parent>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
        <version>3.0.0</version>
    </parent>

    <properties>
        <java.version>1.8</java.version>
        <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target>
        <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source>
    </properties>

    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

</project>

Both my maven.compiler.target and maven.compiler.source are set to 1.8 and i have java 1.8 running in my mac (M1).

java.class.version = 52.0
    java.endorsed.dirs = /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/adoptopenjdk-8.jdk/Contents/Home/jre/lib/endorsed
    java.ext.dirs = /Users/vinays/Library/Java/Extensions
        /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/adoptopenjdk-8.jdk/Contents/Home/jre/lib/ext
        /Library/Java/Extensions
        /Network/Library/Java/Extensions
        /System/Library/Java/Extensions
        /usr/lib/java
    java.home = /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/adoptopenjdk-8.jdk/Contents/Home/jre
    java.io.tmpdir = /var/folders/46/7pq574c14f51kn1h8gjsz0hw0000gn/T/
    java.library.path = /Users/vinays/Library/Java/Extensions
        /Library/Java/Extensions
        /Network/Library/Java/Extensions
        /System/Library/Java/Extensions
        /usr/lib/java
        .
    java.runtime.name = OpenJDK Runtime Environment
    java.runtime.version = 1.8.0_292-b10
    java.specification.name = Java Platform API Specification
    java.specification.vendor = Oracle Corporation
    java.specification.version = 1.8
    java.vendor = AdoptOpenJDK
    java.vendor.url = https://adoptopenjdk.net/
    java.vendor.url.bug = https://github.com/AdoptOpenJDK/openjdk-support/issues
    java.version = 1.8.0_292
    java.vm.info = mixed mode
    java.vm.name = OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM
    java.vm.specification.name = Java Virtual Machine Specification
    java.vm.specification.vendor = Oracle Corporation
    java.vm.specification.version = 1.8
    java.vm.vendor = AdoptOpenJDK
    java.vm.version = 25.292-b10
    line.separator = n 
    os.arch = x86_64
    os.name = Mac OS X
    os.version = 10.16
    path.separator = :
    socksNonProxyHosts = local|*.local|169.254/16|*.169.254/16
    sun.arch.data.model = 64

I am not sure why I am still getting the issue.

Answer

The error indicates that the Spring class org.springframework.boot.loader.JarLauncher has class version 61 (Java 17). Spring Boot 3 requires Java 17. You cannot use it on Java 8, even if you compile your own classes targeting Java 8.

If you want to use Spring Boot 3, you will need to upgrade to Java 17, otherwise you need to remain on Spring Boot 2.7.x or lower.