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payload-dumper-rust 🦀

A fast and efficient Android OTA payload dumper written in Rust.

What is this?

If you've ever downloaded an Android OTA update and wondered how to extract the actual system images from it, this tool is for you. Android OTA packages contain a payload.bin file that holds all the partition images (boot, system, vendor, etc.). This tool extracts those partitions so you can work with them directly.

Why use this?

Fast: All decompression runs in parallel
Flexible: Extract from payload.bin files, ROM ZIPs, or even direct URLs
Smart: Only download what you need when extracting from URLs
Reliable: Verifies extracted partitions to ensure integrity
Cross-platform: Works on Linux, Windows, macOS, Android (via Termux), and more

Installation

Quick Install

Linux / Termux:

bash <(curl -sSL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rhythmcache/payload-dumper-rust/main/scripts/install.sh")

Windows:

powershell -NoExit -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Invoke-RestMethod -Uri 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rhythmcache/payload-dumper-rust/main/scripts/install.ps1' | Invoke-Expression"

Manual Download

Download pre-built binaries for your platform from the releases page.

Build from Source

If you have Rust installed:

cargo install payload_dumper

Usage

Basic Examples

Extract all partitions from a payload file:

payload_dumper payload.bin --out extracted

Extract directly from a ROM ZIP (no need to unzip first):

payload_dumper ota_update.zip --out extracted

Extract from a URL (great for CI/CD or when you don't want to download the whole file):

payload_dumper https://example.com/ota_update.zip --out extracted

Extract specific partitions only:

payload_dumper payload.bin --images boot,vendor_boot --out extracted

List available partitions without extracting:

payload_dumper payload.bin --list

Advanced Options

Usage: payload_dumper [OPTIONS] <PAYLOAD_PATH>

Arguments:
  <PAYLOAD_PATH>              Path to payload.bin, ROM ZIP, or URL

Options:
  --out <OUT>                 Output directory [default: output]
  --images <IMAGES>           Comma-separated partition names to extract
  --list                      List all available partitions
  --threads <THREADS>         Number of parallel threads to use
  --no-parallel               Disable parallel extraction
  --no-verify                 Skip hash verification
  --metadata                  Save complete metadata as JSON
  --diff                      Enable differential OTA mode
  --old <OLD>                 Directory with old partitions (for differential OTA)
  --user-agent <AGENT>        Custom User-Agent for HTTP requests

Practical Examples

Extract boot and vendor_boot from a URL:

payload_dumper --images boot,vendor_boot https://dl.google.com/path/to/ota.zip

Process with custom thread count:

payload_dumper payload.bin --threads 8 --out output

Get metadata without extracting:

payload_dumper payload.bin --metadata --out metadata.json

How It Works

Reads the payload structure from the file/ZIP/URL
Identifies all available partitions
Decompresses each partition in parallel (unless disabled)
Verifies the integrity of extracted files
Saves partitions to your output directory

Technical Details

Parallel Processing: By default, uses all available CPU cores for maximum speed
Memory Efficient: Streams data instead of loading everything into memory
Network Optimized: When extracting from URLs, only downloads required chunks

Dependencies

Protocol buffer definitions from Android's update_engine
See Cargo.toml for complete dependency list

Building from Source

Requirements:

Rust toolchain (install from rustup.rs)
Cargo (comes with Rust)

Build command:

cargo build --release

The binary will be at target/release/payload_dumper

Credits

Inspired by vm03/payload_dumper

License

Apache-2

payload_dumper 0.7.2