Sometimes when you may need to compile a certain project to a different version than what you are currently using. The javac can accept such command using -source and -target. The Compiler Plugin can also be configured to provide these options during compilation.
For example, if you want to use the Java 8 language features (-source 1.8) and also want the compiled classes to be compatible with JVM 1.8 (-target 1.8), you can either add the two following properties, which are the default property names for the plugin parameters:
[...]
1.8
1.8
[...]
OR configure the plugin directly:
[...]
[...]
org.apache.maven.plugins
maven-compiler-plugin
3.8.0
1.8
1.8
[...]
[...]