Occasionally, y'all detect applications or games distributed as .jar files instead of the usual .exe file. Yous tin't but double-click on a JAR file to run the app. How, then, practise you open a JAR file?

Java used to be a popular coding linguistic communication to create freeware games and applications. Even now, many freeware apps are distributed as .jar files, which Windows does non natively support. This article will walk you through ways to open up JAR files on your computer.

What Is a JAR File?

Net browsers used Java to offer a dynamic browsing experience. Games and other interactive applets were coded using Java and could run on any platform.

Merely there was a small problem. It took multiple HTTP requests to download all the assets required for that applet to work, slowing downwardly its load time. A meliorate arroyo would be to parcel all the files into a unmarried file that Coffee could access to run an application.

And that's exactly what the JAR file is. Inspired past WinZip, JAR is a file annal used past Java to concord anything from multimedia files to code and is accessible to Coffee applets.

Install Coffee on Your PC

The well-nigh straightforward method to open up a JAR file is to install the Coffee Runtime Environment (JRE) on your reckoner. Not only does this give you the ability to open .jar files, simply it as well makes your system capable of running Java apps.

  1. Download the latest JRE version, head to Oracle'south official download page.
  1. Curlicue down to find the right installation package for your operating system. In that location are both online and offline installers. The online setup will simply download the necessary files during the installation while the offline version downloads all necessary files first then will showtime the installation.
  1. Run the downloaded file to brainstorm the installation of JRE on your computer. Accept the license agreement to get the setup underway. Usually, the installer will automatically remove older versions of JRE, though you lot tin do that manually if needed.
  1. A completed installation allows you to run any Java app on your PC, including JAR files.

Note that this only allows your figurer to open up JAR files using the method mentioned beneath, but information technology doesn't associate the .jar extension, which ways that if you try to double-click a JAR file, Windows yet wouldn't know what to do with the file.

Cheque the following section to learn how to open up a JAR file in one case JRE has been installed.

Open From Command Prompt

To be clear, this isn't a different method at all. You still demand to have Java installed on your computer to open JAR files from the command prompt, so that footstep comes first.

One time yous've installed Java on your calculator using the process in the last section, yous can then use the command prompt to open JAR files.

  1. Open up Command Prompt as an ambassador. Type cmd in the search bar to locate the application.
  1. Enter the command java -jar C:pathtofile.jar , where "pathtofile" is the path of the file in question. You can copy the file to the C drive itself to make it easier, allowing yous to enter simply the file proper name.
  1. Upon execution of the command, Windows will use the JRE to translate the JAR file. You should now encounter the Java application running.

Unless the application you lot want is distributed as an executable Java file, you'll need to execute all these steps each time you lot run a JAR file.

Extract every bit an Archive

JAR files are archived information with a fancy name. Certain they're meant for Java applications, but a .jar file just compresses and archives them into a single bundle, thereby letting you lot extract JAR files using any leading file extraction tool like WinRAR or vii-Zip. This will let y'all see the contents of the bundle, though y'all'll still need the JRE if you lot want to run the application itself.

  1. Download the 7-Zilch installer to extract .jar files.
  1. Run the downloaded .exe file to install vii-Zip on your figurer.
  1. Navigate to the directory containing the JAR file you wish to extract.
  1. Right-click on the file, select 7-Cypher, and and then select Extract All.
  1. The JAR file will be extracted into the directory.

What is the Best Method To Open a JAR File on Windows 10?

JAR files are unremarkably Java applications packaged into a unmarried file. To run them, you need to have the Java Runtime Surround installed on your PC. As JRE is free to download, this is the easiest manner to get .jar files working on your Windows computer.

On the other hand, if you just desire to await at the contents of the JAR annal but not actually run it, yous can always use a file extraction tool. Apps like vii-Nada or WinRAR can easily extract the contents of a .jar file.