The 1.x series of JaxoDraw used the original axodraw latex package written by Jos Vermaseren to generate Feynamn diagrams. The naming of JaxoDraw is a reminiscent of this origin.

In the 2.x series of JaxoDraw, the axodraw style file was replaced with axodraw4j.sty (i.e. axodraw for Java). It was based on axodraw and was written mainly by John Collins specifically for the JaxoDraw project. The name has been changed to avoid any backward compatibility issues with old documents that use the original axodraw.sty.

In both the 1.x and 2.x series of JaxoDraw the LaTeX export/import functionality was integrated into the main program. With the release 3.0 of JaxoDraw the JLaTeXMath library was used as the underlying LaTeX engine. The axodraw4j-specific part of the code was instead pulled out into a plugin, so the original functionality is still available to JaxoDraw users.