The Android Gradle plugin (AGP) and the D8 and R8 compilers are compatible with class files from Kotlin version 1.3 and higher.
The D8 and R8 compilers support class files from Kotlin version 1.3 starting from version 2.1.86 (included in AGP 4.1). For class files from Kotlin version 1.4 and higher there is a minimum required AGP and D8 and R8 version for each Kotlin version.
The following table shows the earliest versions of AGP and D8 and R8 compilers required for each Kotlin version.
| Kotlin version | Earliest AGP version | Earliest D8 and R8 version |
|---|---|---|
| 1.3 | 4.1 | 2.1.86 |
| 1.4 | 7.0 | 3.0.76 |
| 1.5 | 7.0 | 3.0.77 |
| 1.6 | 7.1 | 3.1.51 |
| 1.7 | 7.2 | 3.2.47 |
| 1.8 | 7.4 | 4.0.48 |
| 1.9 | 8.0 | 8.0.27 |
The AGP versions listed in the table automatically use the specified D8 and R8 compiler version.
When using Java 8+ API desugaring AGP version 7.0 (and D8 and R8 version 3.0.76) is required. R8 can only emit Kotlin metadata of version 1.4 and newer. When using R8 to shrink a Kotlin library with metadata from Kotlin version 1.3 the metadata is converted to the Kotlin 1.4 format. For Kotlin version 1.4 and newer R8 preserves the version.