A method, computer system, and computer program product for accelerating class data loading in a containers environment are provided. In response to a first container in a containers environment being created from a first image, at least one archive file containing a set of classes from the first image can be loaded. Then a respective class sharing file for each of the at least one archive file can be generated. The class sharing file is stored in a shared location. A second container in the containers environment is created from a second image. If a class sharing file from the archive is found in the shared location, that class sharing file can be used.