How to Shrink Docker Images with Spring Boot Layered Builds

Background

In real‑world container deployments, Docker images can become very large, making deployment slow.

The size of a Docker image is mainly affected by three factors:

Base image size – choose a minimal image such as Alpine.

Number of Dockerfile layers – merge commands where possible.

Application JAR size – the focus of this article.

helloworld image

First we build a simple Spring Boot 2.3.0 web "helloworld" and create an image.

FROM adoptopenjdk:11-jre-hotspot as builder
WORKDIR application
ARG JAR_FILE=target/*.jar
COPY ${JAR_FILE} application.jar
ENTRYPOINT ["java", "-jar", "application.jar"]

docker build --build-arg JAR_FILE=./demo-layer-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar . -t demo:v1.0

Inspect image layers

Use docker inspect demo:v1.0 to view the layer digests.

// demo:v1.0 layer digests
"Layers": [
    "sha256:b7f7d2967507ba709dbd1dd0426a5b0cdbe1ff936c131f8958c8d0f910eea19e",
    "sha256:a6ebef4a95c345c844c2bf43ffda8e36dd6e053887dd6e283ad616dcc2376be6",
    "sha256:838a37a24627f72df512926fc846dd97c93781cf145690516e23335cc0c27794",
    "sha256:28ba7458d04b8551ff45d2e17dc2abb768bf6ed1a46bb262f26a24d21d8d7233",
    "sha256:55c91231ac46fdd63c3cf84b88b11f8a04c1870482dcff033029a601bc50e1ab",
    "sha256:9816c2d488754509f6024a267738b1e5fe33a7cd33bd25c5a9cdf6d4d7bfed1d",
    "sha256:f5fb3f91797d57a92f3f7e033398b8edd094df664db849a4950eabf2f5474535",
    "sha256:b87d2ff74819f83038ea2f89736a19cfcf99bfa080b8017d191c900a09a7524f"
]

Upgrade helloworld and rebuild

After modifying the program (simulating development), rebuild the image.

docker build --build-arg JAR_FILE=./demo-layer-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar . -t demo:v1.1

Inspect the new image with docker inspect demo:v1.1:

// demo:v1.1 layer digests
"Layers": [
    "sha256:b7f7d2967507ba709dbd1dd0426a5b0cdbe1ff936c131f8958c8d0f910eea19e",
    "sha256:a6ebef4a95c345c844c2bf43ffda8e36dd6e053887dd6e283ad616dcc2376be6",
    "sha256:838a37a24627f72df512926fc846dd97c93781cf145690516e23335cc0c27794",
    "sha256:28ba7458d04b8551ff45d2e17dc2abb768bf6ed1a46bb262f26a24d21d8d7233",
    "sha256:55c91231ac46fdd63c3cf84b88b11f8a04c1870482dcff033029a601bc50e1ab",
    "sha256:9816c2d488754509f6024a267738b1e5fe33a7cd33bd25c5a9cdf6d4d7bfed1d",
    "sha256:f5fb3f91797d57a92f3f7e033398b8edd094df664db849a4950eabf2f5474535",
    "sha256:c1b6350d545fea605e0605c4bfd7f4529cfeee3f6759750d6a5ddeb9c882fc8f"
]

Compare v1.0 and v1.1

Only the last layer changed; using the dive tool (a Go‑based Docker image analyzer) we see that the difference is the updated JAR, which adds about 16 MB of content.

Spring Boot default packaging

By default, Spring Boot packages the application JAR as a single layer that contains both business classes and third‑party dependencies, preventing layer reuse.

META-INF/
  MANIFEST.MF
org/
  springframework/
    boot/
      loader/
BOOT-INF/
  classes/
  lib/

Layered JAR concept

Splitting the JAR into separate layers—business classes and third‑party libraries—allows Docker to cache unchanged layers, dramatically speeding up rebuilds.

Enable layered packaging

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <configuration>
        <layers>
            <enabled>true</enabled>
        </layers>
    </configuration>
</plugin>

Write a Dockerfile that uses layertools

The key is to extract the layers with Spring Boot’s layertools and copy them separately.

FROM adoptopenjdk:11-jre-hotspot as builder
WORKDIR application
ARG JAR_FILE=target/*.jar
COPY ${JAR_FILE} application.jar
RUN java -Djarmode=layertools -jar application.jar extract
FROM adoptopenjdk:11-jre-hotspot
WORKDIR application
COPY --from=builder application/dependencies/ ./
COPY --from=builder application/spring-boot-loader/ ./
COPY --from=builder application/snapshot-dependencies/ ./
COPY --from=builder application/application/ ./
ENTRYPOINT ["java", "org.springframework.boot.loader.JarLauncher"]

Build the new image and inspect layers

docker build --build-arg JAR_FILE=./demo-layer-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar . -t demo:v2.0

"Layers": [
    "sha256:b7f7d2967507ba709dbd1dd0426a5b0cdbe1ff936c131f8958c8d0f910eea19e",
    "sha256:a6ebef4a95c345c844c2bf43ffda8e36dd6e053887dd6e283ad616dcc2376be6",
    "sha256:838a37a24627f72df512926fc846dd97c93781cf145690516e23335cc0c27794",
    "sha256:28ba7458d04b8551ff45d2e17dc2abb768bf6ed1a46bb262f26a24d21d8d7233",
    "sha256:55c91231ac46fdd63c3cf84b88b11f8a04c1870482dcff033029a601bc50e1ab",
    "sha256:9816c2d488754509f6024a267738b1e5fe33a7cd33bd25c5a9cdf6d4d7bfed1d",
    "sha256:f5fb3f91797d57a92f3f7e033398b8edd094df664db849a4950eabf2f5474535",
    "sha256:06fe18cf8ae7384f120f2c6a3a33b31999dd0460cf1edae45e8f13adeab35942",
    "sha256:16cf814564b8a667fcc9f07314b6084cbef8dc8c0a6565c7a2d91d74faf7e7de",
    "sha256:94be40f716016b68cdd6b99d2cb8154acf8475c3a170a898a22f95a8ef40ffd3",
    "sha256:427d87d6a5fe6da13cb4233939c3a1ff920bc6b4d2f14b5d78af7aef98fda7de"
]

After modifying some business code and rebuilding:

docker build --build-arg JAR_FILE=./demo-layer-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar . -t demo:v2.1

"Layers": [
    "sha256:b7f7d2967507ba709dbd1dd0426a5b0cdbe1ff936c131f8958c8d0f910eea19e",
    "sha256:a6ebef4a95c345c844c2bf43ffda8e36dd6e053887dd6e283ad616dcc2376be6",
    "sha256:838a37a24627f72df512926fc846dd97c93781cf145690516e23335cc0c27794",
    "sha256:28ba7458d04b8551ff45d2e17dc2abb768bf6ed1a46bb262f26a24d21d8d7233",
    "sha256:55c91231ac46fdd63c3cf84b88b11f8a04c1870482dcff033029a601bc50e1ab",
    "sha256:9816c2d488754509f6024a267738b1e5fe33a7cd33bd25c5a9cdf6d4d7bfed1d",
    "sha256:f5fb3f91797d57a92f3f7e033398b8edd094df664db849a4950eabf2f5474535",
    "sha256:06fe18cf8ae7384f120f2c6a3a33b31999dd0460cf1edae45e8f13adeab35942",
    "sha256:16cf814564b8a667fcc9f07314b6084cbef8dc8c0a6565c7a2d91d74faf7e7de",
    "sha256:94be40f716016b68cdd6b99d2cb8154acf8475c3a170a898a22f95a8ef40ffd3",
    "sha256:8a20c60d361696a4e480fb6fbe1daf8b88bc54c579a98e209da1fb76e25de5aa"
]

The only changed layer is the last one, which grew by only 5 KB.

Summary

Image size reduced from 16 MB to 5 KB per change, a noticeable improvement in real projects.

Layered packaging can be enabled via the Spring Boot Maven plugin.

Refer to the official Spring Boot documentation for detailed configuration.