Virtual methods are instance methods that are resolved dynamically. The set includes all public, protected and package-visible instance methods. Private instance methods and all constructors are not virtual methods, but instead are resolved statically during compilation.

All virtual methods defined in a package are assigned either public or private virtual method tokens. Virtual method token values must be in the range from 0 to 127, inclusive. Public and private tokens for virtual methods are assigned from different namespaces. The high bit of the byte containing a virtual method token is set to one if the token is a private token.

Public tokens for the externally visible (public or protected) introduced virtual methods in a class are numbered consecutively starting at one greater than the highest numbered public virtual method token of the class's superclass. If a method overrides a method implemented in the class's superclass, that method is assigned the same token number as the method in the superclass. The high bit of the byte containing a public virtual method token is always set to zero, to indicate it is a public token. The ordering of public virtual method tokens in a class is not specified.

Private virtual method tokens are assigned to package-visible virtual methods. They are assigned differently from public virtual method tokens. If a class and its superclass are defined in the same package, the tokens for the package-visible introduced virtual methods in that class are numbered consecutively starting at one greater than the highest numbered private virtual method token of the class's superclass. If the class and its superclass are defined in different packages, the tokens for the package-visible introduced virtual methods in that class are numbered consecutively starting at zero. If a method overrides a method implemented in the class's superclass, that method uses the same token number as the method in the superclass. The definition of the Java programming language specifies that overriding a package-visible virtual method is only possible if both the class and its superclass are defined in the same package. The high bit of the byte containing a virtual method token is always set to one, to indicate it is a private token. The ordering of private virtual method tokens in a class is not specified.