AabResGuard is a resource-obfuscation and resource-packing tool developed by ByteDance for Android applications. Its primary purpose is to protect and shrink the resource assets inside Android App Bundles (AAB), making reverse engineering and tampering harder while reducing final package size. It can be integrated as a command-line tool or a Gradle plugin, so developers can adopt it with minimal disruption to their existing Android build pipelines. Historically, it was used internally by ByteDance (e.g. for apps like TikTok and its related overseas products), which suggests it was robust and production-ready. However, the repository was archived in April 2025, marking it as read-only — meaning it’s no longer actively maintained or developed. Despite that, the existing code remains available to developers who want to obfuscate resources in older or legacy Android projects.
Features
- Obfuscation of resource filenames and resource structure inside Android AAB bundles to hinder reverse engineering
- Resource size optimization (packing/compression) to reduce final application package footprint
- Support for integration as a command-line tool for standalone usage
- Gradle plugin support for seamless integration into Android build workflows
- Compatibility with standard Android App Bundles (AAB) packaging process
- Ability to apply obfuscation/optimization without requiring changes to application source code
Project Samples
