# Cordova File Assets
When you are working with file assets in a Cordova app, like sounds, you will often see documentation about a folder called android_asset. The folder android_asset refers to the project's root folder.
file:///android_asset/www/sound/mySound.mp3
The link above would be pointing to an mp3 file that is inside of a sound folder that is inside the www folder which sits at the root of your project.
When you build your cordova project the contents of your www folder get copied to /platforms/android/assets/www/. So, file:///android_asset/www is actually pointing to that copied version of the folder.
Cordova has a File plugin which will allow you to access the File System on the device, and manage files and folders. Cordova File Plugin reference (opens new window)
When working with Android apps the path can be relative when working with things like images or sounds.
<img src="./img/myPhoto.jpg" />
This image is pointing to a JPG that is in a folder called img that sits at the same level as the HTML file containing this tag.
Another type of asset link will start with the http protocol.
<img src="http://www.example.com/img/photo.jpg" />
For all of these we need to be sure that we are adding these to the content-security-policy meta tag too.
When you are playing Sound files you should be using a Media object in your scripts or <audio> and <source> tags in your HTML. These can use relative paths too. It is also recommended that you have the cordova-plugin-media plugin in order to play the sounds.
Cordova Media Plugin Reference (opens new window)
file///android_asset/www/sound/errorSound.mp3 If you want to provide a full absolute path then you should start your URL with file:///. Note the THREE forward slashes.
file:///android_asset/www/img/myPhoto.jpg
file:///android_asset/www/sound/mySound.mp3
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One other type of URI is the res:// protocol. Anything that starts with res:// will be relative to
iOS - the Resources/ folder
Android - the res/drawable/ folder inside /platforms/android/
# Checking the Platform
If was a requirement in your app to check on which OS you were loading the files then you should include the cordova-plugin-device plugin. That way we can check and set the proper URL protocols.
var sound =
device.platform == 'Android' ? 'file://sound.mp3' : 'file://beep.caf';
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This example shows a ternary operator check to see if the device platform is Android or not. If it is Android then file://sound.mp3 will be saved inside the variable sound. If not Android, then file://beep.caf will be saved in the variable.
The device plugin reference (opens new window)