# anestisb/vdexExtractor

Tool to decompile & extract Android Dex bytecode from Vdex files

Repository: https://github.com/anestisb/vdexExtractor
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/vdexextractor
Language: C
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: android, vdex, bytecode, dex, art-runtime, decompiler, libart, bytecode-unquickening, disassembler, compactdex, cdex
Last push: 2024-07-23T13:13:07+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3251, "days_push": 771, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1135, forks 246 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:43.579647+00:00)

## What it is
A command-line tool written in C that decompiles and extracts Android Dex bytecode from Vdex files produced by the ART runtime's dex2oat compiler. It supports bytecode unquickening (de-odex) and disassembly without requiring a full libart/AOSP build.

## Use cases
- extract dex bytecode from android vdex files
- decompile optimized android app bytecode
- unquicken dex-to-dex transformed bytecode
- disassemble android dex bytecode
- analyze android apk vdex containers for reverse engineering
- determine android api level from a vdex file

## When to choose
- you need to recover verifiable Dex from Vdex/Oat pairs on Android Oreo or newer
- you want a lightweight standalone tool instead of building AOSP's oatdump/libart
- you are doing Android security research or reverse engineering of optimized bytecode

## When to avoid
- you need to decompile Dex to Java source code rather than bytecode
- you work with pre-Oreo (API < 26) Dex files not stored in Vdex containers
- you need a GUI-based Android analysis suite

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: maintenance
- function: reverse-engineering, parser, cli, developer-tools
- domain: android-tools, reverse-engineering, security, parsers
- platform: windows, cli
- tags: android, vdex, dex, art-runtime, bytecode-unquickening, disassembler, compactdex, apk-analysis, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- anestisb/vdexExtractor (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:43.579647+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:36:46.101834+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/anestisb/vdexExtractor (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:43.579647+00:00, sha 13f0020bd6d1)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.