An APK built from HTML is roughly your zipped content plus 4–6 MB for the Android runtime. To make it smaller, cut media first: resize and convert images to WebP (70–90% smaller), keep only WOFF2 fonts, re-encode audio to 96–128 kbps OGG or MP3, stream long videos instead of bundling them, and delete JavaScript source maps.
Where the bytes come from
The finished APK has two parts: the runtime — the WebView shell, icons and resources, about 4–6 MB — and your content, stored compressed. Text (HTML, CSS, JS, JSON, SVG) compresses to 20–30% of its size; images, audio, video and WOFF2 fonts are already compressed and barely shrink. That is why a 2 MB JavaScript game and a site with 2 MB of photos produce very different APKs. Estimate yours with the APK size estimator.
The cuts, ranked by savings
| Offender | Typical saving | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Photos at camera resolution | 70–90% | Resize to ≤1920 px, convert to WebP (quality 75–80) |
| Bundled video | 5–40 MB | Re-encode at 720p, or stream from a URL |
| WAV / uncompressed audio | ~90% | OGG or MP3 at 96–128 kbps; mono for effects |
Source maps (*.map) | ≈ size of your JS | Delete before zipping |
| Fonts in TTF + WOFF + WOFF2 | 50–75% of font weight | Keep WOFF2 only; subset to the scripts you use |
| Whole icon libraries | 100s of KB | Import individual icons or inline SVG |
| PNG sprite sheets | 30–60% | WebP lossless, or a texture packer with trimming |
Size vs speed
Bundled files are read from the device, so a large APK does not open slowly the way a large website loads slowly. What makes an HTML app feel slow is JavaScript: parsing a 1.5 MB bundle can take over a second on a budget phone. Split code by route, defer what the first screen does not need, and test on the cheapest phone you can find.
AAB makes downloads smaller anyway
When you publish an AAB on Google Play, Play builds a per-device APK containing only the resources that device needs. Users typically download noticeably less than the universal APK. Your HTML assets are the same on every device, so the saving is in the runtime, not your content.
Questions people ask
How big is an APK made from HTML?
Your zipped content plus about 4–6 MB for the app runtime. A one-file calculator is around 5 MB; a game with 6 MB of assets is around 11 MB.
Does a bigger APK make the app slower?
Not much: bundled files load from local storage. JavaScript parse time affects speed far more than file size.
What is the size limit?
On HTML to App, 5 MB of zipped content on the free plan and 18 MB on Pro.