Images allow JPG and GIF files to be placed on a panel and seen in the GUI. There are two steps to displaying an image: getting the image and drawing the image. To get an image (from a file or URL), use Image i = getImage(getCodeBase(), "imageName"); if the image is in the current directory, or Image i = getImage(new URL("myURLpath")); to retrieve the image from a remote location (other considerations are involved in using the URL class, however, like URL exception handling). The image is then drawn using paint or paintComponent, as g.drawImage(i,0,0,this); where g is a Graphics object, and this is the container upon which the image will be displayed.