JAVA - Difference between Class class and *.class files?

There's something I don't understand between *.class files and Class class API. Let's me explain :

I have a file A.java representing a java class :

public class A { ... }

Class<?> clazz = A.class;

When I compile A.java, I get a A.class file (the byte code).

Is there any relation between the A.class file (bytecode) and clazz which represents the instance class (A.class) ? Are they the same thing ?

Thank you