Android Files

The APK file format refers to the Application Package File (APK). A package type executable file format, it is primarily associated with the Android Market. Such files are zipped archives and contain apps that can be played on any Android device. In more simple terms, t hey are normally used to distribute various application software over the Android Market and on to Google’s Android system, very similar to the MSI package in Windows.

To make an APK file, the Android program is initially constructed and compiled, and is finally all the parts and subparts are packaged into one file. This makes such files all the more important as they may contain very important details regarding the software, pertaining from the software resources and classes to even the security module.

The APK are used by many types of software such as the &qout;Active Tutor&qout;, &qout; GameSpy Arcade&qout; (multiplayer game server to connect to available multiplayer games) and &qout;Train Simulator&qout;. An APK file consists of all the data related to the code of the program such as the .dex files, resources, certificates etc.

These files are ZIP-formatted, which means that they can be opened with the WinZip file extractor. However, it is recommended that a registry check of the system is done before such files are opened. These files can be opened with software like &qout;File View Pro&qout; and &qout;Active Tutor&qout; (by 4C Media Inc.) . These .apk files are actually the variants of the JAR file extensions and are built on the ZIP format with the APK extensions.

APK is one of the most widely used file formats as with the Android marketplace booming. The contents of an APK format file include the META-INF directory (which contains different types of file certificates), the LIB directory, the Resources directory, the assets directory, the Android manifest directory and the classes compiled in the . dex format. There are Android phones, like the Galaxy Nexus, which can run and allow the installation of the .apk file extensions. In such devices, these files can be directly installed via Google Play.

For the other devices, these files can be easily installed using the APK Installer and by changing the settings of the device accordingly. The user just needs to make sure that the installation of non-market application is made available and allowed on his device. If you have an .apk file with you, you can easily open the file on your Android device without any worry!

Open APK File on Windows OS

Look for an APK file you need to open in Windows Explorer and double-click on it
If the file doesn’t open automatically and you see a “Windows can’t open a file” message then you should search for a program which can open APK file
If you have a program which can open APK file installed on your computer then launch that program and select “File” and then “Open” or similar options from its menu to open the APK file
If you don’t have the program installed then you need to try searching for “APK wiki”, “how to open APK file” in the search engine.
Once you find the application, install it on your computer
After the program is installed double-click on the APK file to open it

File extensions are used by Windows operating system to specify what kind of information is stored in the file. Every file in Windows OS needs to have file extension and file extensions are used by Windows to determine which application it should use to open the file. Every application installed on Windows OS places information about which extensions it could open into the Windows registry and Windows uses this information to determine which application it should launch when user double-clicks on the file. If application which can open APK file is not installed, then Windows will show ‘Windows can’t open APK file’ message and buttons to either select an application on the computer which can open the file or to search the web for the application which can open APK file.

NOMEDIA file extension is used by Android No Media file. Files with NOMEDIA file extension are used exclusively on Android operating system either on phones or tablets or on Android formatted storage devices. Android operating system uses .nomedia file to specify that applications and operating system should not scan a folder with .nomedia file in it for images, videos and other media.

File with NOMEDIA file extension is not supposed to have any name and is typically named as .nomedia. Typically .nomedia file does not have to contain any content.

There is not much sense to open NOMEDIA file because it will be empty and won’t have any useful information. The only purpose of this file is to specify that content of the folder should not be indexed for media.

There are several good uses for NOMEDIA files. For example if you want to hide photos in a folder you can place a .nomedia file into the folder and photos won’t be visible for apps or photo browsing.

To create a .nomedia file connect your Android device to Windows or Mac OS desktop computer. After that navigate to a folder where you want to create .nomedia file. Launch Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on Mac OS. After that select “Save As…” from the main menu, select the folder where you want to save the file to, type .nomedia as a file name and click “Save” button.

You can use Nomedia app from g(x) apps or from Droida. Both apps allow you to browse Android device folders and select which folder content to hide or reveal.

File with NOMEDIA extension is safe to open on Android device or download to a desktop computer since it does not contain any information and is only used to define visibility of a content in a folder.