{"id":682675,"date":"2026-02-19T17:25:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T16:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.jetbrains.com\/?post_type=kotlin&#038;p=682675"},"modified":"2026-02-27T14:13:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T13:13:16","slug":"java-to-kotlin-conversion-comes-to-visual-studio-code","status":"publish","type":"kotlin","link":"https:\/\/blog.jetbrains.com\/en\/kotlin\/2026\/02\/java-to-kotlin-conversion-comes-to-visual-studio-code","title":{"rendered":"Java to Kotlin Conversion Comes to Visual Studio Code"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>At JetBrains, we aim to make Kotlin development as accessible and efficient as possible across the entire ecosystem. While IntelliJ IDEA remains the premier IDE for Kotlin, we recognize that many developers use Visual Studio Code for a variety of tasks and projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To help streamline the transition from Java to Kotlin for VS Code users, we are pleased to introduce the Java to Kotlin (J2K) converter extension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"buttons\">\n        <div class=\"buttons__row\">\n            <a class=\"ek-link jb-download-button\" title=\"Download the Extension\" href=\"https:\/\/kotl.in\/fsr6t7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-test=\"blog-article-cta\" data-cl=\"true\">Download the Extension<\/a>\n         <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Seamless Conversion in VS Code<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This new extension allows you to convert individual Java files into Kotlin code with a simple context menu action, significantly reducing the manual effort required when migrating legacy codebases or switching languages mid-project. The VS Code extension sends requests to an LLM to propose idiomatic conversion suggestions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">See it in action<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The converter is designed to be unobtrusive and easy to use. Watch the short demo below to see how it handles the conversion process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"VS Code J2K Extension Demo\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/knW7B5VuDh4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to get started<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To begin using the converter, simply:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li>Install the Java to Kotlin Converter extension from the<a href=\"https:\/\/marketplace.visualstudio.com\/items?itemName=JetBrains.j2k-vscode\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Visual Studio Marketplace<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Open any .java file in your workspace.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Right-click anywhere in the editor or on the file in the Explorer and select Convert to Kotlin.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Our Commitment to the Ecosystem<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This extension is part of our ongoing effort to support Kotlin users wherever they choose to write code. It joins other initiatives aimed at improving the developer experience outside of IntelliJ IDEA, such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/Kotlin\/kotlin-lsp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kotlin LSP<\/a>, which provides IDE-independent language support via the Language Server Protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As this is a new release, we highly value your feedback. If you encounter any issues or have suggestions for improvements, please report them on <a href=\"https:\/\/youtrack.jetbrains.com\/issues\/KT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTrack<\/a> or through the extension&#8217;s marketplace page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":608,"featured_media":682892,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[4113,89],"tags":[76,477],"cross-post-tag":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jetbrains.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kotlin\/682675"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jetbrains.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kotlin"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jetbrains.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/kotlin"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jetbrains.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/608"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jetbrains.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682675"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jetbrains.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kotlin\/682675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":684273,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jetbrains.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kotlin\/682675\/revisions\/684273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jetbrains.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/682892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jetbrains.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jetbrains.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jetbrains.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682675"},{"taxonomy":"cross-post-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jetbrains.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cross-post-tag?post=682675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}