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What is the difference between .class and .dex files?

Of course, .dex files for Dalvik Android VM and .class files are for JVM. But I wonder if they have similar layouts (Constant Pool, Fields, Methods, Attributes, ...)? The bytecode is different from the others, but are there alternatives to Dalvik impigments to those from the JVM?

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While there are many class files in the Java jar file, each APK file has only one classes.dex, as shown below. According to Google, the APK format is different from the class file format for performance and security.

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There is a Dex file format and a class file format specification from the respective company.

These 2 files are completely different.

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The Dalvik execution format is code executed by the VM. Dalvik VM cannot execute Java bytecode, it must be compiled into dex because it uses an alternative set of commands.

Read the wiki article.

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