What is the Difference Between NoClassDefFoundError and ClassNotFoundException?

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What is the Difference Between NoClassDefFoundError and ClassNotFoundException? When NoClassDefFoundError and ClassNotFoundException are Thrown

NoClassDefFoundError and ClassNotFoundException are very closely related and often confused with each other by many developers. Below is the description of each from the Java API Specifications

ClassNotFoundException

Thrown when an application tries to load in a class through its string name using:

  • The forName method in class Class.
  • The findSystemClass method in class ClassLoader.
  • The loadClass method in class ClassLoader.

but the definition of the class with the specified name could not be found due to following reasons

  • The specified name class does not exist.
  • The specified name class is not in the classpath
  • The specified name class is not visible to the classloader.

NoClassDefFoundError

Thrown if the Java Virtual Machine or a ClassLoader instance tries to load in the definition of a class (as part of a normal method call or as part of creating a new instance using the new expression) and no definition of the class could be found.

The searched-for class definition existed when the currently executing class was compiled, but the definition can no longer be found.

Key Differences

  • The NoClassDefFoundError is thrown when the source was successfully compiled, but during runtime, the required class files were not found. This may be a case when some dependency jar files were not included or not in classpath.
  • A ClassNotFoundException is thrown when the reported class is not found by the ClassLoader or not visible to the Classloader.
  • Another important distinction between these two is, NoClassDefFoundError is a sub class of java.lang.Error and the ClassNotFoundException is a subclass of java.lang.Exception.
  • NoClassDefFoundError is a critical error for JVM since its having problems finding a class it expected to find.

On the other hand, the ClassNotFoundException is an Exception. Use of reflection api can be error-prone and there is no compile-time check to validate reflection call is loading right classes, so there can be situations when some classes may not be found.

Some scenario when ClassNotFoundException may occur:

Scenario 1 (Use of reflection) – You will see ClassNotFoundException when you are using reflection to load classes at runtime, and the class you are trying to load does not exist or not in classpath.

Scenario 2 (Multiple Classloaders being used) – You will see ClassNotFoundException when a class is being loaded from another class which was already loaded in a parent classloader and the class from the child classloader is not visible.