Java -- How to read an unknown number of bytes from an inputStream (socket/socketServer)?

You need to expand the buffer as needed, by reading in chunks of bytes, 1024 at a time as in this example code I wrote some time ago

    byte[] resultBuff = new byte[0];
    byte[] buff = new byte[1024];
    int k = -1;
    while((k = sock.getInputStream().read(buff, 0, buff.length)) > -1) {
        byte[] tbuff = new byte[resultBuff.length + k]; // temp buffer size = bytes already read + bytes last read
        System.arraycopy(resultBuff, 0, tbuff, 0, resultBuff.length); // copy previous bytes
        System.arraycopy(buff, 0, tbuff, resultBuff.length, k);  // copy current lot
        resultBuff = tbuff; // call the temp buffer as your result buff
    }
    System.out.println(resultBuff.length + " bytes read.");
    return resultBuff;

Assuming the sender closes the stream at the end of the data:

ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();

byte[] buf = new byte[4096];
while(true) {
  int n = is.read(buf);
  if( n < 0 ) break;
  baos.write(buf,0,n);
}

byte data[] = baos.toByteArray();

Read an int, which is the size of the next segment of data being received. Create a buffer with that size, or use a roomy pre-existing buffer. Read into the buffer, making sure it is limited to the aforeread size. Rinse and repeat :)

If you really don't know the size in advance as you said, read into an expanding ByteArrayOutputStream as the other answers have mentioned. However, the size method really is the most reliable.