Alternate versions

The version shown in recent years on television (as of 2000) includes a lengthier scene where the crazed fishermen hunt sharks to collect Mrs. Kinter's reward. It shows them crazily firing rifles into the water, much like a shark feeding frenzy. The extended version of Jaws was first shown in the US on the ABC network on November 4, 1979 in order to achieve a running time of 3 hours including commercial interruptions. This version and ran occasionally through the 1980s. The shark hunting frenzy mentioned here, in addition to Matt Hooper telling a story about an ex-lover to Chief Brody on their way to dissect the tiger shark, as well as Quint's badgering of a young musician in a bait and tackle store were all included. Many network and syndicated television broadcasts contained added footage long before "Deleted Scenes" were ever part of home video packaging.

In the 30th anniversary DVD edition of the film, all the movie remains the same except for Brody's final encounter with the shark. His famous line is cut, thus, only letting him says, "Smile, you son of a..." before he fires the gun. The original quote, ['Smile, you son of a bitch'] has inexplicable been censored while the gore and blood in the rest of the film is left untouched.

Further cut scenes available on the DVD releases include an alternate discovery of Chrissie's remains, with Brody forcing a reluctant Cassidy to identify her; Mayor Vaughn trying to get Brody to do something about the kids karate-ing fences while on the car ferry; Mrs. Kintner coming out of the town hall with her father after posting the reward notice and passing Quint who is getting out of his truck; Ellen talking to Hooper over dinner about a documentary she saw on sea lions; and the cut scene of the shark hitting Mike Brody with the estuary victim in its mouth.

There are two versions of Hooper finding Ben Gardener's head. The first has silence until the head appears then loud ominous music, which makes for a real jump. The second has low music throughout and is not nearly as scary.

In the original Cinema version shown in the UK, the autopsy scene did not have the terrible cut/edit during the dialog. The original version contained scenes/dialog close the the following: "So this is what happens when a young girl goes swimming...." Hooper then goes to hit bag and takes out a tape measure. He then measures the bite on the leg/torso and continues: "The bite-radius indicates the non-frenzied feeding...". When he subsequently measures the tiger shark and says that the bite radius doesn't match, it makes more sense. It is clear from the jump in dialog, and the presence of a grammatically incorrect sentence that the scene is cut - "So this is what happens indicates the" is not English.

The Hindi dubbed version refers to the shark as a female.

Television versions feature additional scenes: extra scenes on TV included a longer discussion between the Mayor and Hendricks (the guy with the busted fence complains to the mayor) and one involving Quint buying piano wire from a music store.

The Finnish video version lacks the goriest scenes (Quint bitten in the end, close-up of Ben Gardner's head, severed leg falling to the bottom etc.).

The DVD release includes several deleted scenes which include:

• Brody feeds the dogs in the kitchen.
• Quint buys piano wire and berates a boy in a music shop.
• The shark hunters' flotilla battles amongst itself to pull up a tiger shark to claim the bounty.
• On the way to cut open the tiger shark, Hooper tells Brody about a $1200 phone bill and a girl who liked phone sex.

On the laserdisc version, there is an additional deleted scene where Quint and his little friend are talking in a boathouse. His friend tells him he's not going with him to hunt the shark. Quint responds by calling him a "miserable little son of a b*tch."

The television version cuts the shot of the man in the boat's leg sinking to the bottom of the ocean. The shot where Quint vomits blood as the shark bites into his stomach is cut. Most of the profanity is also removed.

The recent 25th Anniversary release on VHS and DVD contained all new sound effects (even though the original release won the Oscar for Best Sound).

Another cut scene shown in the DVD (and also spliced into the film in some TV versions) has a longer conversation between Brody and Cassidy before Chrissy's body is discovered. In this cut, Cassidy's attitude toward Chrissy's disappearance is much colder: when he says "She must've drowned," he shows no emotion at all, and he quickly goes into a casual conversation about his rent and bills.