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.NET MAUI › Publishing & Deployment

What is the difference between an APK and an AAB for Android?

Beginner

Answer

An APK is a directly installable package. An Android App Bundle (AAB) is a publishing format uploaded to Google Play, which generates optimized per-device APKs (split by density, ABI, language), reducing download size. Google Play requires AAB for new apps; use APK for sideloading or internal testing.
dotnet publish -f net8.0-android -c Release \
    -p:AndroidPackageFormat=aab
Real-world example A team ships an AAB to Play for smaller user downloads but keeps an APK for QA sideloading.

Common follow-ups: Why does Play prefer AAB? | When do you still use an APK?

Android Deployment Publishing & Deployment
All 7 Publishing & Deployment questions