What is the difference between a JAR and a WAR distribution in Spring Boot?
Spring Boot can create a self-executable WAR file that runs without needing a servlet container. A JAR file has to be deployed to an existing web container such as Tomcat with separate files for dependencies.
Spring Boot can create a JAR file that contains bytecode that interacts directly with the OS without needing a servlet container. A WAR file has to be deployed to an existing web container such as Tomcat with separate files for dependencies.
The Spring Boot JAR file will be deployed to a Servlet container such as Tomcat on an existing running web server locally. The WAR file will be deployed to a cloud-based servlet container.
Spring Boot can create a self-executable JAR file that contains all the dependencies and an embedded Servlet container. A WAR file has to be deployed to an existing web container such as Tomcat.