Where Are Android Emulator AVD Files?
Android .android/avd emulator images with .ini plus config.ini hardware profiles on every OS.
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Android Virtual Devices live as .avd folders plus .ini pointers under .android/avd in your home folder on every OS. Each AVD folder holds multi gigabyte disk images plus config.ini hardware specs.
The AVD Manager (or avdmanager CLI) is the safe mover and deleter. ANDROID_AVD_HOME relocates the root for cramped system drives.
Where Android Studio stores this, by platform
%USERPROFILE%\.android\avd
Snapshots and userdata images inside each .avd dir. Move via AVD Manager or set ANDROID_AVD_HOME before creating.
~/.android/avd
Same layout. HAXM versus Hypervisor.framework choice affects speed, not file locations.
~/.android/avd
Same layout. KVM permissions gate emulator speed; files stay put regardless.
Frequently asked questions
What eats disk in Android development?
Usually AVD images plus SDK system images. Delete dead AVDs from the manager rather than rm-ing folders.
How do I move AVDs to another drive?
Set ANDROID_AVD_HOME to the new root, move the avd folder contents, and fix the ini path lines to match.
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