By Leo Sei, Product Manager on Android
In 2017, we released D8, a faster Dex compiler designed to replace DX and generate smaller APK. In April 2018, we announced that D8 would be the default option in Android Studio 3.1.
Android Studio switched to the D8 Dex compiler:
Android-developers.googleblog.com/2018/04/and…
At the time of the launch, we planned to phase out the DX in three phases. We are now in phase 2: “If we do not find a significant regression of DX relative to D8 during the 6-month observation period, we move to phase 2. This phase lasts for a year to ensure that complex projects have enough time to complete the migration. The DX will still be available at this stage, but we will consider it ‘deprecated’ and will not fix any issues with it.”
If you haven’t already adopted D8, now is the time to migrate to D8. As always, if you encounter any problems, please let us know!
The next step
On February 1, 2021, we will move into phase 3: removing DX completely from Android Studio and all other build environments.
Note: This article is for DX compilers only (not including compression tools)
Click here to migrate to D8 immediately
