DEFINITION FOR FILTERS:
A filter dynamically intercepts requests and responses to transform or use the information contained in the requests or responses.
Filters typically do not themselves create responses, but instead provide universal functions that can be "attached" to any type of servlet or JSP page.
But the main difference is that, Filters are applied to the all the requests of the web application,
DEFINITION FOR INTERCEPTORS:
Interceptors are used in conjunction with Java EE managed classes to allow developers to invoke interceptor methods in conjunction with method invocations or lifecycle events on an associated target class.
Common uses of interceptors are logging, auditing, or profiling.
Interceptors are used to handle the pre and post processing of incoming request.
But, interceptors are applied to certain group of handlers. If you want to forward the requests to some particular module, Interceptor is the best place to write your code to divert the request to a particular module.
Filter used web but interceptor can be used with web as well as enterprise applications
EXAMPLE:
A Servlet Filter is used in the web layer only, you can't use it outside of a web context.
Interceptors can be used anywhere.
Filters only apply to the urls for which they are defined.
The interceptor stack fires on every request.
