Editing JAR (file format) (section)

===Specifications===
The manifest appears at the [[Canonical form|canonical]] location <code>META-INF/MANIFEST.MF</code>.<ref name="jarspec">{{cite web|url=https://docs.oracle.com/javase/10/docs/specs/jar/jar.html |title=JAR File Specification |publisher=Download.oracle.com |access-date=2012-07-31}}</ref> There can be only one manifest file in an archive and it must be at that location.

The content of the manifest file in a JAR file created with version 1.0 of the [[Java Development Kit]] is the following.

 Manifest-Version: 1.0

The name is separated from its value by a colon. The default manifest shows that it conforms to version 1.0 of the manifest specification.

The manifest can contain information about the other files that are packaged in the archive. Manifest contents depend on the intended use for the JAR file. The default manifest file makes no assumptions about what information it should record about other files, so its single line contains data only about itself. It should be encoded in UTF-8.

====Special-Purpose Manifest Headers====
JAR files created only for the purpose of archiving do not use the <code>MANIFEST.MF</code> file.

Most uses of JAR files go beyond simple archiving and compression and require special information in the manifest file.