Notes on web.dtd and web.xml files - chapter 10 web.dtd is the DTD required by the Java Servlet v2.2 API for web applications. The formal description for use in web.xml is: Note that the 2.3 API may require a different DTD. web.xml is an example Web Application Deployment Descriptor This is the version I have been using when working with Tomcat 3.1 and the various servlets in the book.