[Vasu]

An EAR(Enterprise archive) is a top-level container which contains modules like:
EJB modules, web modules, application client modules etc.

A WAR file is for a Web application deployed to a servlet/JSP engine. It\'s got a WEB-INF directory, where the deployment descriptor web.xml sits. Underneath that are directories WEB-INF/classes and WEB-INF/lib, where web application classes and JARs live, respectively.

An EAR file is an enterprise application deployed to an application server like WebLogic, WebSphere, JBOSS, etc. It might contain WARs, JARs, etc.

EAR = WAR(Web module) + JAR(can be EJB module or application client module)