aapt

List contents of an APK file

$ aapt list [app.apk]

$ aapt dump xmltree [app.apk] AndroidManifest.xml

$ aapt dump badging [app.apk]

$ aapt package -f -M [AndroidManifest.xml] -S [res/] -I [android.jar] -F [output.apk]

aapt command [options] [file]

aapt (Android Asset Packaging Tool) is a build tool used in Android development to package application resources into APK files. It compiles resources, generates the R.java file containing resource identifiers, and can inspect existing APK files.
The tool handles resource compilation, XML processing, asset packaging, and APK creation. It reads AndroidManifest.xml, processes drawable, layout, and other resource files, and bundles them into the final application package. While largely superseded by aapt2 in modern Android development, aapt remains useful for APK inspection and legacy projects.

list

List contents of a ZIP-compatible archive (APK)

Dump specific information from an APK: badging, permissions, resources, configurations, xmltree, xmlstrings

Package resources and assets into an APK

Force overwrite of existing files

Specify AndroidManifest.xml location

Specify resource directory

Add an existing package to base include set (usually android.jar)

Specify output APK file

Verbose output

aapt has been superseded by aapt2 in Android Gradle Plugin 3.0+. The older tool lacks incremental compilation support and has slower performance on large projects. Resource processing differences may cause issues when mixing tools.

aapt was introduced as part of the Android SDK in 2008 with the initial public release of Android. It served as the primary resource packaging tool until 2017 when Google introduced aapt2 with improved performance and incremental build support. The original aapt remains included in the SDK for compatibility.

apksigner(1), apktool(1), adb(1)