Technology has become a great part of human life in several forms like mobile phones, other electronic gadgets, several types of machinery, vehicles, etc., have been a necessity of human life and to live without them will now be quite difficult for the next generation.

To use such Technologies the person does not need to have any expertise it just takes information about the gadget of machinery and they are ready to use, for example, a mobile phone can be used by people of any age group easily for a 2-year-old kid for an 80-year-old person, the functionality of devices has been becoming so easy with several modifications, these modifications are done to make it apt for all age groups.

In devices like mobile phones or laptops, There are several functions which are not used by everybody but they are an important part of the device and only a few technical experts know about them because they are not of daily use of an ordinary person, for example, archive files, zip folders, etc.

JAR vs WAR

The main difference between JAR and WAR is that JAR files are capable of accumulating different files in it on the other hand WAR files are confined to web applications. Both of them are types of archive files but their accessibility is different.

Comparison Table Between JAR and WAR

What is JAR?

JAR is a file format, an acronym used for java archive files, it is used to accumulate several java class files and associate metadata and resources in one file for distribution. We are a built-in ZIP format and have a JAR file extension. In simple terms, it is used for compressing files just like one can do in a ZIP folder. It can be used as a general archive tool in devices.

Generally, the JAR file contains number directory, audios, images, etc., the output shows that JAR files contain a manifest default file which is automatically placed in the archive by the JAR tool. They are generally used in libraries and that’s why these types of files are easy to access. 

JAR file is a package file format, EJB module is packaged which contains EJB descriptor and java class bean files, and they are packaged with JAR files. JAR files can be made manually as well. Objects in files are python classes that wrap file descriptors to make working with files more convenient and less error-prone.

JAR files are the only cross-platform archive format. On Microsoft Windows, the java 2 runtime environment installation program registers a default association for JAR files and thus JAR file on the desktop will automatically run it with Java JAR. the dependent extensions with applications will be loaded automatically.

What is WAR?

WAR is a file format, acronym for web application archive files. In technical terms, it is the collection of different files to distribute the collection of JAR files, Java server Pages, Java Servlets, Java classes, XML files, static web pages, etc., in other words, all the resources that constitute a web application.

The advantage of using the WAR file is that it accumulates all the files in one single unit so it takes less time of user while transferring a file from client to server. WAR files can be made manually as well. WAR files are deployed to a JSP engine or a servlet. This type of files also contains a WEB-INF directory, the Web.xml which is a deployment descriptor. 

The directory structure of web application comprises of two types; one the Html/XML files which are mainly images, videos, JSP pages, applets, etc., and the other part is WEB-INF directory containing tag library descriptor files and the deployment descriptor.

WAR files are packaged with WAR extension and contain GIFs as well. WAR files are located in the web apps directory. WAR files may store different resources in different applications, which might create a hassle. To use files located in WAR files the user is required to unzip the folder.

Main Differences Between JAR and WAR

Conclusion 

JAR and WAR files are two different file formats, they can be created manually but from different formats.

Both of them run in ZIP format, but the types of files they contain are different. There are a lot of differences between the two. 

References

https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/301631.301676

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