zipalign is an archive alignment tool that provides important optimization to Android application
(APK) files. The purpose is to ensure that all uncompressed data starts with a particular alignment
relative to the start of the file. Specifically, it causes all uncompressed data within the APK,
such as images or raw files, to be aligned on 4-byte boundaries. This allows all portions to be
accessed directly with mmap() even if they contain binary data with alignment
restrictions. The benefit is a reduction in the amount of RAM consumed when running the
application.
This tool should always be used to align your APK file before distributing it to end-users. The Android build tools can handle this for you. Android Studio automatically aligns your APK.
Caution: You must use zipalign at one of two specific points in the app-building process, depending on which app-signing tool you use:
The adjustment is made by altering the size of the "extra" field in the zip Local File Header sections. Existing data in the "extra" fields may be altered by this process.
For more information about how to use zipalign when building your application, please read Signing Your Application.
Usage
To align infile.apk and save it as outfile.apk:
zipalign [-f] [-v] <alignment> infile.apk outfile.apk
To confirm the alignment of existing.apk:
zipalign -c -v <alignment> existing.apk
The <alignment> is an integer that defines the byte-alignment boundaries. This
must always be 4 (which provides 32-bit alignment) or else it effectively does nothing.
Flags:
-f: overwrite existing outfile.zip-v: verbose output-
-p: outfile.zip should use the same page alignment for all shared object files within infile.zip -c: confirm the alignment of the given file