Previously, OEMs would bundle all of the stock firmware files into a single zip file that could be easily extracted and flashed manually. The new A/B update mechanism, on the other hand, provided a new format for Android OTA/Firmware update files, which includes a Payload.bin file that contains the individual image files for various firmware partitions. To retrieve the individual device partition/firmware images, you must extract Payload.bin from Android Firmware or OTA.
This might be done on a PC or an Android smartphone with the Payload Dumper Tool. The utility is just a Python script that allows users to extract the Android OTA Payload.bin file from any Windows, macOS, or Linux PC, as well as an Android device. Here are all of the steps to extract payload.bin on Android and retrieve the stock boot image file.
Download Payload Dumper Tool for Android
To extract the contents of the Payload.bin file you need to Download Payload Dumper Tool created by developer Gregory Monitor. The Payload Dumper tool can only be used to extract the Payload.bin file from full OTA packages. It will not work for incremental OTA packages.
How to Extract Payload.bin from Android Firmware or OTA
You can extract Payload.bin from Android OTA or Firmware from Android devices as well as on PC. We’ll show you how to extract the boot.img, system.img, and other files from a payload.bin file using the Payload Dumper tool on an Android device.
- Download the Payload Dumper Tool from the link above, unzip it to the root of your phone’s internal storage, and rename it payload_dumper.
- To retrieve the ‘payload.bin’ file, download and extract the Firmware or OTA package on your device.
- Copy the extracted ‘payload.bin’ file inside the ‘payload_dumper’ folder that you extracted in 1st step.
- Download and install the Termux app on your Android device from Playstore.
- Open Termux and enter the below Commands to install Python on an Android device.
Image credit thecustomdroid pkg install python -y
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install protobuf
apt update && apt upgrade -y - These commands will configure Python, install the necessary ‘Protobuf’ dependencies, upgrade its own native package manager on your Android device as well.
- Enter the below command to grant storage permissions to the Termux app.
termux-setup-storage - Tap Allow when you see the permission “Allow Termux to access photos, media, and files on your device.”
- Your device is now ready to use the Payload Dumper Tool.
- Enter the below command to change the directory of Termux to the Payload dumper folder.
cd storage/shared/payload_dumper - Now enter the following command in Termux to extract the Android OTA Payload.bin file on your Android device.
python extract_android_ota_payload.py payload.bin - Once finished, the extracted firmware images will be placed inside the same ‘payload_dumper’ folder.
Wrapping Up: Extract Android OTA Payload.bin File using Payload Dumper Tool
You can easily Extract Payload.bin from Android Firmware or OTA with the above method. You can now flash these files on your device using various fastboot commands.
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