The top quark mass is measured using a template method in the tt¯ → lepton + jets channel (lepton is e or μ) using ATLAS data recorded in 2012 at the LHC. The data were taken at a proton–proton centre-of-mass energy of s=8 TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20.2 fb - 1 . The tt¯ → lepton + jets channel is characterized by the presence of a charged lepton, a neutrino and four jets, two of which originate from bottom quarks (b). Exploiting a three-dimensional template technique, the top quark mass is determined together with a global jet energy scale factor and a relative b-to-light-jet energy scale factor. The mass of the top quark is measured to be mtop=172.08±0.39(stat)±0.82(syst) GeV. A combination with previous ATLAS m top measurements gives mtop=172.69±0.25(stat)±0.41(syst) GeV. © 2019, CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration.