To know the byte order (endian-ness) of your machine, use the nativeOrder() method of the ByteOrder class.
The program prints the byte order of the machine on which it is run.
import java.nio.ByteOrder; public class Main { public static void main(String args[]) { ByteOrder b = ByteOrder.nativeOrder(); if (b.equals(ByteOrder.BIG_ENDIAN)) { System.out.println("Big endian"); } else {/*from ww w .j a v a2 s . co m*/ System.out.println("Little endian"); } } }