diff -up src/sage/interfaces/jmoldata.py.orig src/sage/interfaces/jmoldata.py
--- src/sage/interfaces/jmoldata.py.orig	2018-12-22 16:37:08.000000000 -0700
+++ src/sage/interfaces/jmoldata.py	2019-01-16 09:43:40.755939704 -0700
@@ -148,8 +148,6 @@ class JmolData(SageObject):
             sage: print(os.path.exists(testfile)) # optional -- java
             True
         """
-        # Set up paths, file names and scripts
-        jmolpath = os.path.join(JMOL_DIR, "JmolData.jar")
         target_native = targetfile
 
         if sys.platform == 'cygwin':
@@ -173,10 +171,8 @@ class JmolData(SageObject):
             env = dict(os.environ)
             env['LC_ALL'] = 'C'
             env['LANG'] = 'C'
-            subprocess.call(["java", "-Xmx512m", "-Djava.awt.headless=true",
-                "-jar", jmolpath, "-iox", "-g", size_arg,
-                "-J", launchscript, "-j", imagescript],
-                stdout=jout, stderr=jout, env=env)
+            subprocess.call(["jmol", "-n", "-g", size_arg,
+                "-J", launchscript, "-j", imagescript], stdout=jout)
         if not os.path.isfile(targetfile):
             raise RuntimeError("Jmol failed to create file %s, see %s for details"%(repr(targetfile), repr(scratchout)))
         os.unlink(scratchout)