Android support library increases APK size a lot

Question

I'm using AppCompat support library in my Android project. AppCompat has plenty of drawables and resources which I don't use in my app. That unnecessary files increases my 900K app to above 2M, which I don't like.
Is there any way to exclude those files when creating the APK file? Or I should obfuscate the library in my code instead of making a dependency? I'm using Gradle in Android Studio.

Thanks

EDIT 1 I am using proguard already. but proguard can't know I don't want to have drawable-xxxhdpi or values-it for example.

EDIT 2 I am also using Android Lint, which can't help me, beacuse I don't access to lib's code directly, and android adds them when building the APK file.

Did you try Proguard already ? http://proguard.sourceforge.net/index.html — Ernir Erlingsson, Jan 09 '14 at 10:26
Yes, I am using already. but proguard can't know I don't want to have `drawable-xxxhdpi` or `values-it` for example. — Kayhan Asghari, Jan 09 '14 at 10:45
Have you tried adding support library jar as a dependency to libs folder and adding "-libraryjars libs" to proguard config? — Yaroslav Mytkalyk, Jan 09 '14 at 11:39
That may help when you don't need app compat resources at all. I just want to exclude some of them which I don't need. — Kayhan Asghari, Jan 09 '14 at 13:02
@KeyhanAsghari Using https://github.com/marcoRS/lint-cleaner-plugin might solve your problem — Rez, Sep 10 '14 at 08:44

score 8 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 28 '17 at 20:18

Starting from version 24.2.0, the v4 Support Library has been split into several smaller modules.

So, apart from using shrinkResources and proguardFiles, also make sure that you are using only the specific modules that your app needs. e.g.

If your app only uses Compat utils like NotificationCompat, ContextCompat or ResourcesCompat etc., use only the compat module as:

compile 'com.android.support:support-compat:24.2.0'

score 6 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:47

6

From Android Gradle Build System, since version 0.7.0:

New option on product Flavor (and defaultConfig) allow filtering of resources through the -c option of aapt You can pass single value (resConfig) or multiple values (resConfigs) through the DSL. All values from the default config and flavors get combined and passed to aapt. See "basic" sample. In the "basic" sample:

defaultConfig {
    ...
    resConfig "en"
    resConfigs "nodpi", "hdpi"
}

So, try the following to achieve what you asked for:

productFlavors {
    ...
    frOnly {
        resConfig "fr"
    }
    ...
}

Note that you might also want to include *dpi, port, land, etc.. as well.

Answer is from: Android Studio exports strings from support library to APK, thanks to Primoz990

edited May 23 '17 at 11:47

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answered Nov 06 '14 at 22:44

Kayhan Asghari

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This looks useful, but how much improvement did you get in the size of your release-build APK file? – Sam Nov 20 '16 at 01:57
@Sam I don't exactly remember, but it was a lot. Before adding this config, my APK was full of a large number of localization folders (values-*, ...) which I didn't wanted to. – Kayhan Asghari Nov 20 '16 at 09:08

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

1

shrinkResources can also be an option for you. It is available since 0.14 - but be careful - it still has some pits like protect resources when using shrinkResources

edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

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answered Nov 07 '14 at 00:13

ligi

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 09 '15 at 16:16

Although OP has cleared up that he is using proguard, I would like to post some code if it helps someone because I am able to shrink my app from 3.8 MB to 3.1 MB using the accepted answer and further to mere 1.8 MB through proguard. I used this configuration in my app level build.gradle file:

buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled true
            shrinkResources true
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
}

Android support library increases APK size a lot

4 Answers4

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