AwesomeREA.org

Tool

axmlprinter

Java library and command-line tool that parses Android binary XML, such as the compiled AndroidManifest.xml inside an APK, and prints it as readable XML. Red Naga's near-complete rewrite of the Android4ME AXMLPrinter tolerates manipulated files seen in the wild, including out-of-order string tables and mangled start tags, and can write the classic AXML format back out. Since v2.0.0 it also reads the protobuf XML used in Android App Bundles and detects which format it was given.

Targets
App
Category
Android tools
Relationship
Foundation tool
Sources reviewed

Requirements & limits

  • Latest release v2.0.1, published 2026-03-25 with a prebuilt jar, is tagged at the reviewed master commit 5a8d3e5. v2.0.0 of 2026-01-16 added read-only protobuf support through a contributed pull request; converting between AXML and protobuf is not supported.
  • Build with the Gradle wrapper (./gradlew jar) into a self-contained jar run as java -jar axmlprinter-*.jar with a binary XML file and an optional output path, which applies to AXML only. CI builds and tests on JDK 17, and JitPack builds with OpenJDK 17; it depends on protobuf-java 4.34.1 and includes AOSP's Apache-2.0 aapt2 Resources.proto. Framework resource IDs are resolved only for common Android resources.
  • Input is a single compiled XML file the analyst has already taken from an APK or app bundle, not the archive itself. The tests include binary manifest fixtures named large_from_malware.xml and qihoo_jiagu_issue8.xml, the latter from an issue about a manifest that failed to parse, plus a smaller test.xml.
  • Apache-2.0, crediting Android4ME's 2008 code alongside Red Naga's. No REA connection is stated, and no files were decoded in this review.

About this entry

The description was reviewed against primary sources. This does not establish runtime testing, security auditing or verified compatibility.

Report an outdated entry Suggest a translation fix

Primary sources

  1. README.md GitHub · rednaga/axmlprinter · Revision 5a8d3e5
  2. build.gradle GitHub · rednaga/axmlprinter · Revision 5a8d3e5
  3. .github/workflows/gradle.yml GitHub · rednaga/axmlprinter · Revision 5a8d3e5
  4. src/test/resources GitHub · rednaga/axmlprinter · Revision 5a8d3e5
  5. src/main/proto/Resources.proto GitHub · rednaga/axmlprinter · Revision 5a8d3e5
  6. LICENSE GitHub · rednaga/axmlprinter · Revision 5a8d3e5
  7. https://github.com/rednaga/axmlprinter/releases/tag/v2.0.1
  8. https://github.com/rednaga/axmlprinter/pull/13
  9. https://github.com/rednaga/axmlprinter/issues/8

More in Apps

All 136 entries in Apps