The Jazz file format is intended to be a replacement for the JAR file format when used for storage and distribution of Java programs. A Jazz file is compressed to a degree that far exceeds what is possible with a JAR file. The smaller size of the Jazz format permits faster transmission speeds over a network and has the additional benefit of conserving disk storage. The compression is achieved as a combination of different data compression methods, adapted to suit the characteristics of collections of Java class files.
Quetzalcoatl Bradley, R. Nigel Horspool, Jan Vitek