Created Tuesday 10 September 2013

Compiled Android application code file.

• .class files converted to Dalvik byte code
• optimized for efficient storage and memory-mappable execution.
• zipped into a single :ApkFileFormat:ApkFile on the device.
• created by automatically translating compiled applications written in the Java programming language.

One of the most remarkable features of the Dalvik Virtual Machine (the workhorse under the Android system) is that it does not use Java bytecode. Instead, a homegrown format called DEX was introduced and not even the bytecode instructions are the same as Java bytecode instructions.

Dex file format:

1. File Header
2. String Table
3. Class List
4. Field Table
5. Method Table
6. Class Definition Table
7. Field List
8. Method List
9. Code Header
10. Local Variable List

Links

• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7750448/dex-file-in-android
• http://www.retrodev.com/android/dexformat.html
• http://developer.android.com/tools/building/index.html