diff --git a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/AbstractFileResolvingResource.java b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/AbstractFileResolvingResource.java
index c58ea9aba4..a81f6c3818 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/AbstractFileResolvingResource.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/AbstractFileResolvingResource.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2013 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2015 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractFileResolvingResource extends AbstractResource {
 	protected File getFileForLastModifiedCheck() throws IOException {
 		URL url = getURL();
 		if (ResourceUtils.isJarURL(url)) {
-			URL actualUrl = ResourceUtils.extractJarFileURL(url);
+			URL actualUrl = ResourceUtils.extractArchiveURL(url);
 			if (actualUrl.getProtocol().startsWith(ResourceUtils.URL_PROTOCOL_VFS)) {
 				return VfsResourceDelegate.getResource(actualUrl).getFile();
 			}
diff --git a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/ResourceUtils.java b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/ResourceUtils.java
index 945eead6cc..3ea92707e1 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/ResourceUtils.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/ResourceUtils.java
@@ -57,9 +57,12 @@ public abstract class ResourceUtils {
 	/** URL prefix for loading from the file system: "file:" */
 	public static final String FILE_URL_PREFIX = "file:";
 
-	/** URL prefix for loading from the file system: "jar:" */
+	/** URL prefix for loading from a jar file: "jar:" */
 	public static final String JAR_URL_PREFIX = "jar:";
 
+	/** URL prefix for loading from a war file on Tomcat: "war:" */
+	public static final String WAR_URL_PREFIX = "war:";
+
 	/** URL protocol for a file in the file system: "file" */
 	public static final String URL_PROTOCOL_FILE = "file";
 
@@ -69,9 +72,6 @@ public abstract class ResourceUtils {
 	/** URL protocol for an entry from a zip file: "zip" */
 	public static final String URL_PROTOCOL_ZIP = "zip";
 
-	/** URL protocol for an entry from a Tomcat war file: "war" */
-	public static final String URL_PROTOCOL_WAR = "war";
-
 	/** URL protocol for an entry from a WebSphere jar file: "wsjar" */
 	public static final String URL_PROTOCOL_WSJAR = "wsjar";
 
@@ -90,6 +90,9 @@ public abstract class ResourceUtils {
 	/** Separator between JAR URL and file path within the JAR: "!/" */
 	public static final String JAR_URL_SEPARATOR = "!/";
 
+	/** Special separator between WAR URL and jar part on Tomcat */
+	public static final String WAR_URL_SEPARATOR = "*/";
+
 
 	/**
 	 * Return whether the given resource location is a URL:
@@ -278,8 +281,7 @@ public abstract class ResourceUtils {
 	public static boolean isJarURL(URL url) {
 		String protocol = url.getProtocol();
 		return (URL_PROTOCOL_JAR.equals(protocol) || URL_PROTOCOL_ZIP.equals(protocol) ||
-				URL_PROTOCOL_WAR.equals(protocol) || URL_PROTOCOL_WSJAR.equals(protocol) ||
-				URL_PROTOCOL_VFSZIP.equals(protocol));
+				URL_PROTOCOL_VFSZIP.equals(protocol) || URL_PROTOCOL_WSJAR.equals(protocol));
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -303,10 +305,9 @@ public abstract class ResourceUtils {
 	 */
 	public static URL extractJarFileURL(URL jarUrl) throws MalformedURLException {
 		String urlFile = jarUrl.getFile();
-		int startIndex = (urlFile.startsWith(JAR_URL_PREFIX) ? JAR_URL_PREFIX.length() : 0);
-		int endIndex = urlFile.indexOf(JAR_URL_SEPARATOR);
-		if (endIndex != -1) {
-			String jarFile = urlFile.substring(startIndex, endIndex);
+		int separatorIndex = urlFile.indexOf(JAR_URL_SEPARATOR);
+		if (separatorIndex != -1) {
+			String jarFile = urlFile.substring(0, separatorIndex);
 			try {
 				return new URL(jarFile);
 			}
@@ -324,6 +325,34 @@ public abstract class ResourceUtils {
 		}
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Extract the URL for the outermost archive from the given jar/war URL
+	 * (which may point to a resource in a jar file or to a jar file itself).
+	 * <p>In the case of a jar file nested within a war file, this will return
+	 * a URL to the war file since that is the one resolvable in the file system.
+	 * @param jarUrl the original URL
+	 * @return the URL for the actual jar file
+	 * @throws MalformedURLException if no valid jar file URL could be extracted
+	 * @since 4.1.8
+	 * @see #extractJarFileURL(URL)
+	 */
+	public static URL extractArchiveURL(URL jarUrl) throws MalformedURLException {
+		String urlFile = jarUrl.getFile();
+
+		int endIndex = urlFile.indexOf(WAR_URL_SEPARATOR);
+		if (endIndex != -1) {
+			// Tomcat's "jar:war:file:...mywar.war*/WEB-INF/lib/myjar.jar!/myentry.txt"
+			String warFile = urlFile.substring(0, endIndex);
+			int startIndex = warFile.indexOf(WAR_URL_PREFIX);
+			if (startIndex != -1) {
+				return new URL(warFile.substring(startIndex + WAR_URL_PREFIX.length()));
+			}
+		}
+
+		// Regular "jar:file:...myjar.jar!/myentry.txt"
+		return extractJarFileURL(jarUrl);
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Create a URI instance for the given URL,
 	 * replacing spaces with "%20" URI encoding first.
diff --git a/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/util/ResourceUtilsTests.java b/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/util/ResourceUtilsTests.java
index 1115e3b09a..d70b383114 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/util/ResourceUtilsTests.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/util/ResourceUtilsTests.java
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ public class ResourceUtilsTests {
 		assertTrue(ResourceUtils.isJarURL(new URL("jar:file:myjar.jar!/mypath")));
 		assertTrue(ResourceUtils.isJarURL(new URL(null, "zip:file:myjar.jar!/mypath", new DummyURLStreamHandler())));
 		assertTrue(ResourceUtils.isJarURL(new URL(null, "wsjar:file:myjar.jar!/mypath", new DummyURLStreamHandler())));
-		assertTrue(ResourceUtils.isJarURL(new URL(null, "war:jar:file:myjar.jar!/mypath", new DummyURLStreamHandler())));
+		assertTrue(ResourceUtils.isJarURL(new URL(null, "jar:war:file:mywar.war*/myjar.jar!/mypath", new DummyURLStreamHandler())));
 		assertFalse(ResourceUtils.isJarURL(new URL("file:myjar.jar")));
 		assertFalse(ResourceUtils.isJarURL(new URL("http:myserver/myjar.jar")));
 	}
@@ -50,19 +50,40 @@ public class ResourceUtilsTests {
 				ResourceUtils.extractJarFileURL(new URL(null, "zip:file:myjar.jar!/mypath", new DummyURLStreamHandler())));
 		assertEquals(new URL("file:myjar.jar"),
 				ResourceUtils.extractJarFileURL(new URL(null, "wsjar:file:myjar.jar!/mypath", new DummyURLStreamHandler())));
-		assertEquals(new URL("file:myjar.jar"),
-				ResourceUtils.extractJarFileURL(new URL(null, "war:jar:file:myjar.jar!/mypath", new DummyURLStreamHandler())));
 
+		assertEquals(new URL("file:myjar.jar"),
+				ResourceUtils.extractJarFileURL(new URL("file:myjar.jar")));
 		assertEquals(new URL("file:myjar.jar"),
 				ResourceUtils.extractJarFileURL(new URL("jar:file:myjar.jar!/")));
 		assertEquals(new URL("file:myjar.jar"),
 				ResourceUtils.extractJarFileURL(new URL(null, "zip:file:myjar.jar!/", new DummyURLStreamHandler())));
 		assertEquals(new URL("file:myjar.jar"),
 				ResourceUtils.extractJarFileURL(new URL(null, "wsjar:file:myjar.jar!/", new DummyURLStreamHandler())));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void extractArchiveURL() throws Exception {
+		assertEquals(new URL("file:myjar.jar"),
+				ResourceUtils.extractArchiveURL(new URL("jar:file:myjar.jar!/mypath")));
+		assertEquals(new URL("file:/myjar.jar"),
+				ResourceUtils.extractArchiveURL(new URL(null, "jar:myjar.jar!/mypath", new DummyURLStreamHandler())));
 		assertEquals(new URL("file:myjar.jar"),
-				ResourceUtils.extractJarFileURL(new URL(null, "war:jar:file:myjar.jar!/", new DummyURLStreamHandler())));
+				ResourceUtils.extractArchiveURL(new URL(null, "zip:file:myjar.jar!/mypath", new DummyURLStreamHandler())));
 		assertEquals(new URL("file:myjar.jar"),
-				ResourceUtils.extractJarFileURL(new URL("file:myjar.jar")));
+				ResourceUtils.extractArchiveURL(new URL(null, "wsjar:file:myjar.jar!/mypath", new DummyURLStreamHandler())));
+		assertEquals(new URL("file:mywar.war"),
+				ResourceUtils.extractArchiveURL(new URL(null, "jar:war:file:mywar.war*/myjar.jar!/mypath", new DummyURLStreamHandler())));
+
+		assertEquals(new URL("file:myjar.jar"),
+				ResourceUtils.extractArchiveURL(new URL("file:myjar.jar")));
+		assertEquals(new URL("file:myjar.jar"),
+				ResourceUtils.extractArchiveURL(new URL("jar:file:myjar.jar!/")));
+		assertEquals(new URL("file:myjar.jar"),
+				ResourceUtils.extractArchiveURL(new URL(null, "zip:file:myjar.jar!/", new DummyURLStreamHandler())));
+		assertEquals(new URL("file:myjar.jar"),
+				ResourceUtils.extractArchiveURL(new URL(null, "wsjar:file:myjar.jar!/", new DummyURLStreamHandler())));
+		assertEquals(new URL("file:mywar.war"),
+				ResourceUtils.extractArchiveURL(new URL(null, "jar:war:file:mywar.war*/myjar.jar!/", new DummyURLStreamHandler())));
 	}