title: IntelliJ IDEA - Gradle Build Error "Unsupported major.minor version 52.0"
body: <p>When I try to run my android app in IntelliJ on a Nexus 9, Android 6.0 emulator, I get the following error:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Error:Gradle: Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: com/android/dx/command/Main : Unsupported major.minor version 52.0
      at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
      at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:800)
      at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:142)
      at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:449)
      at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$100(URLClassLoader.java:71)
      at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:361)
      at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:355)
      at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
      at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:354)
      at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:425)
      at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:308)
      at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:358)
      at sun.launcher.LauncherHelper.checkAndLoadMain(LauncherHelper.java:482)
  Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: com/android/dx/command/Main : Unsupported major.minor version 52.0
      at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
      at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:800)
      at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:142)
      at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:449)
      at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$100(URLClassLoader.java:71)
      at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:361)
      at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:355)
      at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
      at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:354)
      at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:425)
      at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:308)
      at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:358)
      at sun.launcher.LauncherHelper.checkAndLoadMain(LauncherHelper.java:482)
  FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.
  Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: com/android/dx/command/Main : Unsupported major.minor version 52.0
      at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
      at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:800)
      at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:142)
      at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:449)
      at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$100(URLClassLoader.java:71)
      at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:361)
      at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:355)
      at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
      at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:354)
      at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:425)
      at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:308)
      at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:358)
      at sun.launcher.LauncherHelper.checkAndLoadMain(LauncherHelper.java:482)
  * What went wrong:
  Execution failed for task ':app:transformClassesWithDexForDebug'.
  &gt; com.android.ide.common.process.ProcessException: org.gradle.process.internal.ExecException: Process 'command '/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_79.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/java'' finished with non-zero exit value 1
  * Try:
  Run with --stacktrace option to get the stack trace. Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output.
  Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: com/android/dx/command/Main : Unsupported major.minor version 52.0
      at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
      at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:800)
      at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:142)
      at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:449)
      at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$100(URLClassLoader.java:71)
      at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:361)
      at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:355)
      at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
      at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:354)
      at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:425)
      at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:308)
      at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:358)
      at sun.launcher.LauncherHelper.checkAndLoadMain(LauncherHelper.java:482)
  Error:Could not execute build using Gradle installation '/Users/****/.gradle/wrapper/dists/gradle-2.8-all/ah86jmo43de9lfa8xg9ux3c4h/gradle-2.8'.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In the project structure of the app, I am using java version 1.7. This happens when I create a new project and try to run it.</p>
  
  <p>Here is my gradle build file:</p>
  
  <pre><code>apply plugin: 'com.android.application'
  
  android {
      compileSdkVersion 24
      buildToolsVersion "24.0.1"
  
      defaultConfig {
          applicationId "****"
          minSdkVersion 15
          targetSdkVersion 24
          versionCode 1
          versionName "1.0"
      }
      buildTypes {
          release {
              minifyEnabled false
              proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
          }
      }
  }
  
  dependencies {
      compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
      testCompile 'junit:junit:4.12'
      compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:24.1.1'
      compile 'com.android.support:design:24.1.1'
  }
  </code></pre>