The Jakarta Persistence API (formerly Java Persistence API) (JPA) is a Java specification for accessing, persisting, and managing data between Java objects/classes and a relational database. JPA was defined as part of the EJB 3.0 specification as a replacement for the EJB 2 CMP Entity Beans specification. JPA is now considered the standard industry approach for Object to Relational Mapping (ORM) in the Java Industry.
