Hi,

I can't say anything regarding performance .

However, here is what you want for getting resources from jar :

getClass().getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream(String name)
which gives you an InputStream from the resource.
or
getClass().getClassLoader().getResource(String name)
which gives you the URL of the resource.

if your jar contains image.gif inside a /images directory, name would be
"images/image.gif"

Note that getClass() can be called on an instance, you may also call the
class statically e.g :

MyApp.class.getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream(String name)

Regards,

Arnaud

Include them in the jar. It makes it much easier to distribute an
application. The performance difference - if there is any - shouldn't
usually matter.

Why don't you write a small test program for yourself, and measure it?

/Thomas