What is JAR?
JAR stands for Java ARchive.
It's a file format based on the popular ZIP file format and is used for aggregating many files into one. It is the Java version of the UNIX tar and zip functions.
Jar is
- the only archive format that is cross-platform
- the only format that handles audio and image files as well as class files
- backward-compatible with existing applet code
- an open standard, fully extendable, and written in java
- the preferred way to bundle the pieces of a java applet