Editing Java class file (section)

{{Short description|Executable Java file format}}
{{About|the data format|classes in Java|Class (computer programming)}}
{{Infobox file format
| name                   = Java class file
| icon                   =
| logo                   =
| screenshot             =
| mime                   =
| type code              =
| uniform type           =
| magic                  =
| owner                  = [[Sun Microsystems]]
| released               =
| latest release version =
| latest release date    =
| container for          =
| contained by           =
| extended from          =
| extended to            =
| standard               =
| free                   =
| url                    =
}}

A '''Java class file''' is a [[Computer file|file]] (with the {{mono|.class}} [[filename extension]]) containing [[Java bytecode]] that can be executed on the [[Java virtual machine|Java Virtual Machine (JVM)]]. A Java class file is usually produced by a [[Java compiler]] from [[Java (programming language)|Java programming language]] [[source file]]s ({{mono|.java}} files) containing Java [[Class (programming)|classes]] (alternatively, other [[JVM languages]] can also be used to create class files). If a source file has more than one class, each class is compiled into a separate class file. Thus, it is called a {{mono|.class}} file because it contains the bytecode for a single class.

JVMs are available for many [[platform (computing)|platform]]s, and a class file compiled on one platform will execute on a JVM of another platform. This makes Java applications [[cross-platform|platform-independent]].