The -source option specifies the Java SE version and has the following acceptable values:
| Value | Description |
| 1.3 | javac does not support features introduced after Java SE 1.3. |
| 1.4 | javac accepts code with language features introduced in Java SE 1.4. |
| 1.5 or 5 | javac accepts code with language features introduced in Java SE 1.5. |
| 1.6 or 6 | javac reports encoding errors as errors instead of warnings. Of note, no new language features were introduced with Java SE 1.6. |
| 1.7 or 7 | javac accepts code with language features introduced in Java SE 1.7. This is the default value if the -source option is not used. |
The -target option tells javac what version of the JVM to target. The acceptable values for the -target option are: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 or 5, 1.6 or 6 and 1.7 or 7. If the -target option is not used, the default JVM target is dependent on the value used with the -source option. Here is a table of -source values with their associated -target:
| -source value | default -target |
| unspecified | 1.7 |
| 1.2 | 1.4 |
| 1.3 | 1.4 |
| 1.4 | 1.4 |
| 1.5 or 5 | 1.7 |
| 1.6 or 6 | 1.7 |
| 1.7 | 1.7 |