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import static java.util.stream.Collectors.toList; ... List<String> strings = Stream.of("foo", "bar", "baz").toList(); // Java 16 List<String> strings = Stream.of("foo", "bar", "baz").collect(toList()); // Java 8 

But don't expect these lists to be mutable: Collectors.toList() doesn't guarantee it, and Stream.toList() will return unmodifiable list for sure.

import static java.util.stream.Collectors.*; ... List<String> strings = Stream.of("foo", "bar", "baz").toList(); // Java 16, immutable List<String> strings = Stream.of("foo", "bar", "baz").collect(toUnmodifiableList()); // Java 10, immutable List<String> strings = Stream.of("foo", "bar", "baz").collect(toList()); // Java 8, an ArrayList in practice 

Collectors.toList() is documented to have "no guarantees on the type, mutability, serializability, or thread-safety" but in practice it has always returned an ArrayList, and that's very unlikely to change because it would break a lot of code.

Arrays.asList(...) will give you a List^* backed by an array, so it cannot change length.
But you can call List.set(...), so it's still mutable.

Arrays.asList(...) will give you a List^* backed by the passed in arguments array, so it cannot change length.
But you can call List.set(...), so it's still mutable.

import static java.util.stream.Collectors.toList; ... var strings = Stream.of("foo", "bar", "baz").toList(); // Java 16 List<String> strings = Stream.of("foo", "bar", "baz").collect(toList()); // Java 8 

But preferably, just use the Stream without collecting it to a List.

import static java.util.stream.Collectors.toList; ... List<String> strings = Stream.of("foo", "bar", "baz").toList(); // Java 16 List<String> strings = Stream.of("foo", "bar", "baz").collect(toList()); // Java 8 

But don't expect these lists to be mutable: Collectors.toList() doesn't guarantee it, and Stream.toList() will return unmodifiable list for sure.

Preferably, just use the Stream without collecting it to a List.