diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/assets/lib/asset.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/assets/lib/asset.ts
index ba26f3a737269..a075ef5829be0 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/assets/lib/asset.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/assets/lib/asset.ts
@@ -88,9 +88,10 @@ export class Asset extends cdk.Construct {
     this.assetPath = path.resolve(props.path);
 
     // sets isZipArchive based on the type of packaging and file extension
+    const allowedExtensions: string[] = ['.jar', '.zip'];
     this.isZipArchive = props.packaging === AssetPackaging.ZipDirectory
       ? true
-      : this.assetPath.toLowerCase().endsWith('.zip');
+      : allowedExtensions.some(ext => this.assetPath.toLowerCase().endsWith(ext));
 
     validateAssetOnDisk(this.assetPath, props.packaging);
 
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/assets/test/sample-asset-directory/sample-jar-asset.jar b/packages/@aws-cdk/assets/test/sample-asset-directory/sample-jar-asset.jar
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..71224bd574e4b
Binary files /dev/null and b/packages/@aws-cdk/assets/test/sample-asset-directory/sample-jar-asset.jar differ
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/assets/test/test.asset.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/assets/test/test.asset.ts
index fbfc4cad4a209..c7395deac8634 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/assets/test/test.asset.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/assets/test/test.asset.ts
@@ -130,10 +130,15 @@ export = {
       path: path.join(__dirname, 'sample-asset-directory', 'sample-zip-asset.zip')
     });
 
+    const jarFileAsset = new FileAsset(stack, 'JarFileAsset', {
+      path: path.join(__dirname, 'sample-asset-directory', 'sample-jar-asset.jar')
+    });
+
     // THEN
     test.equal(nonZipAsset.isZipArchive, false);
     test.equal(zipDirectoryAsset.isZipArchive, true);
     test.equal(zipFileAsset.isZipArchive, true);
+    test.equal(jarFileAsset.isZipArchive, true);
     test.done();
   }
 };