Can program developed with Java 8 be run on Java 7?

Question

I am a little confused.

1. Oracle says Java 8 is highly compatible with Java 7 (backward). But, what possibilities exist that Java 8 program can be run on Java

Answer 1

Well, there is the -target compiler option, which lets you target the class file format of previous java versions. However, this doesn't fix or detect things such as using classes or methods introduced in JDK APIs after the target version.