What is the difference between JSON Web Signature (JWS) and JSON Web Token (JWT)?

Question

I\'ve been coding a RESTful service in Java. This is what I\'ve understood till now (correct me if i\'m wrong):

Token authorization is done using JSON Web Tokens (JW

Answer 1

To put simply, JWT (JSON Web Token) is a way of representing claims which are name-value pairs into a JSON object. JWT spec defines a set of standard claims to be used or transferred between two parties.

On the other hand, JWS (JSON Web Signature) is a mechanism for transferring JWT payload between two parties with guarantee for Integrity. JWS spec defines multiple ways of signing (eg. HMAC or digital signature) the payload and multiple ways of serializing the content to transfer across network.