A channel that implements this interface is asynchronously closeable: If a thread is blocked in an I/O operation on an interruptible channel then another thread may invoke the channel's close method. This will cause the blocked thread to receive an AsynchronousCloseException.

A channel that implements this interface is also interruptible: If a thread is blocked in an I/O operation on an interruptible channel then another thread may invoke the blocked thread's interrupt method. This will cause the channel to be closed, the blocked thread to receive a ClosedByInterruptException, and the blocked thread's interrupt status to be set.

If a thread's interrupt status is already set and it invokes a blocking I/O operation upon a channel then the channel will be closed and the thread will immediately receive a ClosedByInterruptException; its interrupt status will remain set.

A channel supports asynchronous closing and interruption if, and only if, it implements this interface. This can be tested at runtime, if necessary, via the instanceof operator.