Jenkins uses the file system to store its data.
Directories are created inside JENKINS_HOME following the structure of the Java object model.
Some data, like console output, is stored in plain text files; other data is stored in Java property files.
But the majority of structured data, such as project configuration and build records, is stored in XML with XStream.
This allows object state, whether from core or plugins, to be persisted relatively easily,
but one must pay attention to what is serialized and take measures to preserve backward compatibility.
For example, in various parts of Jenkins you see the transient keyword (which instructs XStream not to bind the field to XML),
deprecated fields left behind strictly for backward compatibility,
or reconstruction of in-memory data structures after data is loaded from disk.