From Java Tips: Difference between ear jar and war files:
These files are simply zipped files using the java jar tool. These files are created for different purposes. Here is the description of these files:
- .jar files: The .jar files contain libraries, resources and accessories files like property files.
- .war files: The war file contains the web application that can be deployed on any servlet/jsp container. The .war file contains jsp, html, javascript and other files necessary for the development of web applications.
Official Sun/Oracle descriptions:
Wikipedia articles:
