How to parse the AndroidManifest.xml file inside an .apk package

Question

This file appears to be in a binary XML format. What is this format and how can it be parsed programmatically (as opposed to using the aapt dump tool in the SDK)?

Answer 1

If your into Python or use Androguard, the Androguard Androaxml feature will do this conversion for you. The feature is detailed in this blog post, with additional documentation here and source here.

Usage:

$ ./androaxml.py -h
Usage: androaxml.py [options]

Options:
-h, --help            show this help message and exit
-i INPUT, --input=INPUT
                      filename input (APK or android's binary xml)
-o OUTPUT, --output=OUTPUT
                      filename output of the xml
-v, --version         version of the API

$ ./androaxml.py -i yourfile.apk -o output.xml
$ ./androaxml.py -i AndroidManifest.xml -o output.xml