What causes "Error decode: ${rf.getOriginalName()}" in skylot/jadx?

Inspect getCause() to see the decode-specific error (image lib, XML parser, ARSC parser).

skylot/jadx · error · JadxException

Error decode: ${rf.getOriginalName()}

Error message

Error decode: ${rf.getOriginalName()}

What it means

Thrown by ResourcesLoader.decodeStream() when a ResourceDecoder.decode() call fails while reading a resource entry's content. Unlike the RuntimeExceptions elsewhere, this is a checked JadxException wrapping the original IOException/exception, carrying the resource's original name. It fires for both zip-backed entries (via IZipEntry.getInputStream) and plain-file resources (via FileInputStream). The higher-level loadContent() catches it and degrades to an error-code snippet rather than crashing.

Source

Thrown at jadx-core/src/main/java/jadx/api/ResourcesLoader.java:109

	public void addResTableParserProvider(IResTableParserProvider resTableParserProvider) {
		resTableParserProviders.add(resTableParserProvider);
	}

	public static <T> T decodeStream(ResourceFile rf, ResourceDecoder<T> decoder) throws JadxException {
		try {
			IZipEntry zipEntry = rf.getZipEntry();
			if (zipEntry != null) {
				try (InputStream inputStream = zipEntry.getInputStream()) {
					return decoder.decode(zipEntry.getUncompressedSize(), inputStream);
				}
			} else {
				File file = new File(rf.getOriginalName());
				try (InputStream inputStream = new BufferedInputStream(new FileInputStream(file))) {
					return decoder.decode(file.length(), inputStream);
				}
			}
		} catch (Exception e) {
			throw new JadxException("Error decode: " + rf.getOriginalName(), e);
		}
	}

	static ResContainer loadContent(JadxDecompiler jadxRef, ResourceFile rf) {
		try {
			ResourcesLoader resLoader = jadxRef.getResourcesLoader();
			return decodeStream(rf, (size, is) -> resLoader.loadContent(rf, is));
		} catch (JadxException e) {
			LOG.error("Decode error", e);
			ICodeWriter cw = jadxRef.getRoot().makeCodeWriter();
			cw.add("Error decode ").add(rf.getType().toString().toLowerCase());
			Utils.appendStackTrace(cw, e.getCause());
			return ResContainer.textResource(rf.getDeobfName(), cw.finish());
		}
	}

	private ResContainer loadContent(ResourceFile resFile, InputStream inputStream) throws IOException {
		for (IResContainerFactory customFactory : resContainerFactories) {

View on GitHub (pinned to e738a26571)

Solutions

Inspect getCause() to see the decode-specific error (image lib, XML parser, ARSC parser).
Use the higher-level loadContent() which already catches JadxException and returns an error placeholder instead of propagating.
Skip the offending resource and continue with the rest.
Verify the resource bytes are intact (re-extract/re-download the archive).

Example fix

// before
T result = ResourcesLoader.decodeStream(rf, (size, is) -> decoder.decode(size, is));

// after
T result;
try {
    result = ResourcesLoader.decodeStream(rf, (size, is) -> decoder.decode(size, is));
} catch (JadxException e) {
    LOG.warn("Failed to decode resource {}, skipping: {}", rf.getOriginalName(), e.getCause());
    result = null;
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// Prefer the higher-level loadContent() which already catches JadxException
// and degrades to an error-code placeholder. If calling decodeStream directly,
// guard the decoder:
Objects.requireNonNull(decoder, "decoder");
if (rf.getType() == null) throw new JadxException("Unknown resource type for " + rf.getOriginalName());

Try / catch

try {
    return ResourcesLoader.decodeStream(rf, (size, is) -> decoder.decode(size, is));
} catch (JadxException e) {
    LOG.warn("Decode failed for {}: {}", rf.getOriginalName(), e.getCause());
    return null; // or an error placeholder
}

Prevention

Use loadContent() instead of decodeStream() to get built-in error degradation.
Inspect getCause() for the format-specific decode error.
Skip corrupt resources and continue rather than aborting the whole batch.

When it happens

Trigger: Decoding a ResourceFile (image, XML, binary resource) through a ResourceDecoder whose decode(size, inputStream) throws, for an entry whose underlying stream is corrupt or whose format the decoder cannot parse.

Common situations: A malformed binary resource (e.g., a corrupt .arsc, a truncated .png, a 9-patch that fails decoding); a resource type mismatch where the decoder chosen for the extension cannot parse the bytes; a zip entry whose stream throws mid-read; disk I/O errors on an extracted resource.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of skylot/jadx@e738a26571 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/510dc605bfbc832f. Report an issue: GitHub.