load files in jar

If you use a filename, then the filename has to refer to a real file. But if you use a "resource name," that resource might be a file or it might be a component of a JAR (or theoretically something else altogether.)
The magic method(s) in this case are the family of loadResource() methods. For example, Class.getResource().
If youve got a class foo/bar/Test.class inside a JAR file, and also a foo/bar/Image.jpg, then inside the Test class you can refer to Image.jpg using
URL theURL = getClass().getResource("Image.jpg");
and then pass the URL to ImageIcon's constructor for example.
Source : http://www.coderanch.com/t/276412/Streams/java/Load-file-inside-JAR