Android Python Wheels

Pre-built Python wheels with native extensions for Android/Chaquopy.

Available Packages

Package	Version	Python	Description
pycodec2	4.1.1	3.13	Python bindings for Codec2 low-bitrate speech codec

Usage

In Chaquopy (build.gradle)

python {
    pip {
        install "pycodec2 @ https://github.com/torlando-tech/android-python-wheels/releases/download/v1.0.0/pycodec2-4.1.1-cp313-cp313-android_21_arm64_v8a.whl"
    }
}

In requirements.txt

pycodec2 @ https://github.com/torlando-tech/android-python-wheels/releases/download/v1.0.0/pycodec2-4.1.1-cp313-cp313-android_21_arm64_v8a.whl ; platform_machine == 'aarch64'
pycodec2 @ https://github.com/torlando-tech/android-python-wheels/releases/download/v1.0.0/pycodec2-4.1.1-cp313-cp313-android_21_x86_64.whl ; platform_machine == 'x86_64'

Supported ABIs

• arm64_v8a - 64-bit ARM (most modern Android devices)
• x86_64 - 64-bit x86 (emulators on Intel/AMD)

How It Works

This repository uses cibuildwheel with Android platform support to:

1. Cross-compile the Codec2 C library for each Android ABI using the Android NDK
2. Build pycodec2 Python extension against it
3. Bundle everything into Android-compatible wheels
4. Publish to GitHub Releases on tag push

Building Locally

Prerequisites

• Python 3.13+
• cibuildwheel
• Android NDK

Build Steps

# Install cibuildwheel
pip install cibuildwheel

# Clone this repo
git clone https://github.com/torlando-tech/android-python-wheels.git
cd android-python-wheels

# Download sources
wget https://github.com/drowe67/codec2/archive/refs/tags/v1.2.0.tar.gz
tar xzf v1.2.0.tar.gz && mv codec2-1.2.0 codec2-src

pip download --no-deps --no-binary :all: pycodec2==4.1.1
tar xzf pycodec2-4.1.1.tar.gz
cd pycodec2-4.1.1

# Copy codec2 source
cp -r ../codec2-src .

# Build for Android
cibuildwheel --platform android --output-dir ../dist

Why This Exists

Chaquopy enables running Python in Android apps but cannot compile native extensions at build time. Packages like pycodec2 that wrap C libraries need to be pre-built.

This repository provides GitHub Actions CI that cross-compiles these packages for Android.

Related Projects

• Codec2 - Open source speech codec
• pycodec2 - Python bindings for Codec2
• Chaquopy - Python for Android
• LXST - Voice calls over Reticulum (uses Codec2)
• cibuildwheel - Build Python wheels for all platforms

License

Build scripts: MIT

The built wheels contain:

• Codec2: LGPL-2.1
• pycodec2: Apache-2.0