JAX-WS is one of the Java XML programming APIs.

The JAX-WS 2.2 specification JSR 224 defines a standard Java- to-WSDL mapping which determines how WSDL operations are bound to Java methods when a SOAP message invokes a WSDL operation.

JAX-WS uses annotations, introduced in Java SE 5, to simplify the development and deployment of web service clients and endpoints.

It is part of the Java Web Services Development Pack.

JAX-WS 2.0 replaced the JAX-RPC API in Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 5 which leans more towards document style Web Services.