What's exactly the difference between a java.util.File and a android.support.v4.provider.DocumentFile in Java Android? In short: File is the "normal" Java file that one would normally know if even he never touched Android - i.e. abstraction for accessing underlying OS's files/directories. DocumentFile was introduced to further abstract this in Android's Storage Access Framework (SAF) - it is either backed by "normal" file or by another abstraction called DocumentProvider https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/providers/document-provider.html and could be used to access both types of files in a more generic way. It is part of Google's continuing effort to 'hide' the underlying OS file/directory structure. One approach would be to use both File (when accessing disk/card files) or DocumentFile (when accessing files backed from ContentProvider) but the more "modern" way would be to use always DocumentFile, which can represent a normal File by using fromFile(File) What's exactly the difference between a java.util.File and a android.support.v4.provider.DocumentFile in Java Android?

File extends Object implements Comparable <File>, Serializable An abstract representation of file and directory pathnames. User interfaces and operating systems use system-dependent pathname strings to name files and directories. This class presents an abstract, system-independent view of hierarchical pathnames. An abstract pathname has two components: A sequence of zero or more string names. The first name in an abstract pathname may be a directory name or, in the case of Microsoft Windows UNC pathnames, a hostname. Each subsequent name in an abstract pathname denotes a directory; the last name may denote either a directory or a file. The empty abstract pathname has no prefix and an empty name sequence. The conversion of a pathname string to or from an abstract pathname is inherently system-dependent. When an abstract pathname is converted into a pathname string, each name is separated from the next by a single copy of the default separator character. The default name-separator character is defined by the system property file.separator, and is made available in the public static fields separator and separatorChar of this class. When a pathname string is converted into an abstract pathname, the names within it may be separated by the default name-separator character or by any other name-separator character that is supported by the underlying system. A pathname, whether abstract or in string form, may be either absolute or relative. The prefix concept is used to handle root directories on UNIX platforms, and drive specifiers, root directories and UNC pathnames on Microsoft Windows platforms, as follows: For UNIX platforms, the prefix of an absolute pathname is always "/". Relative pathnames have no prefix. The abstract pathname denoting the root directory has the prefix "/" and an empty name sequence. For Microsoft Windows platforms, the prefix of a pathname that contains a drive specifier consists of the drive letter followed by ":" and possibly followed by "\\" if the pathname is absolute. The prefix of a UNC pathname is "\\\\"; the hostname and the share name are the first two names in the name sequence. A relative pathname that does not specify a drive has no prefix. Instances of this class may or may not denote an actual file-system object such as a file or a directory. If it does denote such an object then that object resides in a partition. A partition is an operating system-specific portion of storage for a file system. A single storage device (e.g. a physical disk-drive, flash memory, CD-ROM) may contain multiple partitions. The object, if any, will reside on the partition named by some ancestor of the absolute form of this pathname. A file system may implement restrictions to certain operations on the actual file-system object, such as reading, writing, and executing. These restrictions are collectively known as access permissions. On Android strings are converted to UTF-8 byte sequences when sending filenames to the operating system, and byte sequences returned by the operating system (from the various list methods) are converted to strings by decoding them as UTF-8 byte sequences. public static final String The system-dependent path-separator character, represented as a string for convenience. public static final char The system-dependent path-separator character. public static final String The system-dependent default name-separator character, represented as a string for convenience. public static final char The system-dependent default name-separator character. Creates a new File instance from a parent abstract pathname and a child pathname string. Creates a new File instance by converting the given pathname string into an abstract pathname. Creates a new File instance from a parent pathname string and a child pathname string. Creates a new File instance by converting the given file: URI into an abstract pathname. boolean Tests whether the application can execute the file denoted by this abstract pathname. boolean Tests whether the application can read the file denoted by this abstract pathname. boolean Tests whether the application can modify the file denoted by this abstract pathname. int Compares two abstract pathnames lexicographically. boolean