Method for deployment of incremental versions of applications

The present invention relates to a method and component for deployment of incremental versions of applications. The method relates in particular to transferring Java class files across a network with greatly reduced data transfer. A method for updating a first version of installed application files to a second version is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of: responsive to receiving a delta file defining the changes between a file in the first version and a corresponding file in the second version, transforming said first version of the file into a first transformed image comprising a series of records. The changes contained in the delta file are then applied to selected records of the first transformed image to generate a transformed image of the second version. The transformation on the transformed image of said second version is then reversed to generate the second version of said file on said client computer.