javaandroidreverse-engineeringdecompilerdex

How to decompile DEX into Java source code?

How can one decompile Android DEX (VM bytecode) files into corresponding Java source code?

Solution

  • It's easy

    Get these tools:

    1. dex2jar to translate dex files to jar files

    2. jd-gui to view the java files in the jar

    The source code is quite readable as dex2jar makes some optimizations.

    Procedure:

    And here's the procedure on how to decompile:

    Step 1:

    Convert classes.dex in test_apk-debug.apk to test_apk-debug_dex2jar.jar

    d2j-dex2jar.sh -f -o output_jar.jar apk_to_decompile.apk
d2j-dex2jar.sh -f -o output_jar.jar dex_to_decompile.dex

    Note 1: In the Windows machines all the .sh scripts are replaced by .bat scripts

    Note 2: On linux/mac don't forget about sh or bash. The full command should be:

    sh d2j-dex2jar.sh -f -o output_jar.jar apk_to_decompile.apk

    Note 3: Also, remember to add execute permission to dex2jar-X.X directory e.g. sudo chmod -R +x dex2jar-2.0

    dex2jar documentation

    Step 2:

    Open the jar in JD-GUI

    The decompiled source