How can I convert a .jar to an .exe?

Question

I want to convert a .jar to an .exe for microsoft. Is there any program converter for this?

Also if there's one for Mac and Linux I would appreciate suggestions for those too.

Answer 1

Launch4j works on both Windows and Linux/Mac. But if you're running Linux/Mac, there is a way to embed your jar into a shell script that performs the autolaunch for you, so you have only one runnable file:

exestub.sh:

#!/bin/sh
MYSELF=`which "$0" 2>/dev/null`
[ $? -gt  0 -a -f "$0" ] && MYSELF="./$0"
JAVA_OPT=""
PROG_OPT=""
# Parse options to determine which ones are for Java and which ones are for the Program
while [ $# -gt 0 ] ; do
    case $1 in
        -Xm*) JAVA_OPT="$JAVA_OPT $1" ;;
        -D*)  JAVA_OPT="$JAVA_OPT $1" ;;
        *)    PROG_OPT="$PROG_OPT $1" ;;
    esac
    shift
done
exec java $JAVA_OPT -jar $MYSELF $PROG_OPT

Then you create your runnable file from your jar:

$ cat exestub.sh myrunnablejar.jar > myrunnable
$ chmod +x myrunnable

It works the same way launch4j works: because a jar has a zip format, which header is located at the end of the file. You can have any header you want (either binary executable or, like here, shell script) and run java -jar <myexe>, as <myexe> is a valid zip/jar file.

Answer 2

JSmooth .exe wrapper

JSmooth is a Java Executable Wrapper. It creates native Windows launchers (standard .exe) for your Java applications. It makes java deployment much smoother and user-friendly, as it is able to find any installed Java VM by itself. When no VM is available, the wrapper can automatically download and install a suitable JVM, or simply display a message or redirect the user to a website.

JSmooth provides a variety of wrappers for your java application, each of them having their own behavior: Choose your flavor!

Download: http://jsmooth.sourceforge.net/

JarToExe 1.8 Jar2Exe is a tool to convert jar files into exe files. Following are the main features as describe on their website:

Can generate “Console”, “Windows GUI”, “Windows Service” three types of .exe files.

Generated .exe files can add program icons and version information. Generated .exe files can encrypt and protect java programs, no temporary files will be generated when the program runs.

Generated .exe files provide system tray icon support. Generated .exe files provide record system event log support. Generated windows service .exe files are able to install/uninstall itself, and support service pause/continue.

• New release of x64 version, can create 64 bits executives. (May 18, 2008)
• Both wizard mode and command line mode supported. (May 18, 2008)
• Download: http://www.brothersoft.com/jartoexe-75019.html

Executor

Package your Java application as a jar, and Executor will turn the jar into a Windows .exe file, indistinguishable from a native application. Simply double-clicking the .exe file will invoke the Java Runtime Environment and launch your application.

Answer 3

If your program is "publicly available non-commercial in nature" and has "a publicly available Web site that meets the basic quality standards", then you can try and get a free license of Excelsior. If its not then it's expensive, but still a viable option.

Program: https://www.excelsiorjet.com

As a side note: Here's a study of all existing Jar to EXE programs, which is a bit depressing - https://www.excelsior-usa.com/articles/java-to-exe.html

Answer 4

Despite this being against the general SO policy on these matters, this seems to be what the OP genuinely wants:

http://www.google.com/search?btnG=1&pws=0&q=java+executable+wrapper

If you'd like, you could also try creating the appropriate batch or script file containing the single line:

java -jar MyJar.jar

Or in many cases on windows just double clicking the executable jar.