---
modificationDate: January 22, 2026
title: Asset
description: A universal library that allows downloading assets and using them with other libraries.
sourceCodeUrl: 'https://github.com/expo/expo/tree/main/packages/expo-asset'
packageName: 'expo-asset'
platforms: ['android', 'ios', 'tvos', 'web', 'expo-go']
---

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# Expo Asset

A universal library that allows downloading assets and using them with other libraries.
Android, iOS, tvOS, Web, Included in Expo Go

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). Use this file to discover all available pages.

`expo-asset` provides an interface to Expo's asset system. An asset is any file that lives alongside the source code of your app that the app needs at runtime. Examples include images, fonts, and sounds. Expo's asset system integrates with React Native's, so that you can refer to files with `require('path/to/file')`. This is how you refer to static image files in React Native for use in an `Image` component, for example. Check out React Native's [documentation on static image resources](https://reactnative.dev/docs/images#static-image-resources) for more information. This method of referring to static image resources works out of the box with Expo.

## Installation

```sh
npx expo install expo-asset
```

If you are installing this in an [existing React Native app](/bare/overview), make sure to [install `expo`](/bare/installing-expo-modules) in your project.

## Configuration in app config

You can configure `expo-asset` using its built-in [config plugin](/config-plugins/introduction) if you use config plugins in your project ([Continuous Native Generation (CNG)](/workflow/continuous-native-generation)). The plugin allows you to configure various properties that cannot be set at runtime and require building a new app binary to take effect. If your app does **not** use CNG, then you'll need to manually configure the library.

### Example app.json with config plugin

```json
{
  "expo": {
    "plugins": [
      [
        "expo-asset",
        {
          "assets": ["path/to/file.png", "path/to/directory"]
        }
      ]
    ]
  }
}
```

### Configurable properties

| Name | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `assets` | `[]` | An array of asset files or directories to link to the native project. The paths should be relative to the project root so that the file names, whether specified directly or using a directory, will become the resource names. Supported file types:
-   Images: `.png`, `.jpg`, `.gif`
-   Media: `.mp4`, `.mp3`, `.lottie`, `.riv`
-   SQLite database files: `.db`

Note: To import an existing database file (.db), see instructions in SQLite API reference. For other file types (such as .lottie or .riv), see how to add a file extension to assetExts in metro config. |

### Usage

Learn more about how to use the `expo-asset` config plugin to embed an asset file in your project in [Load an asset at build time](/develop/user-interface/assets#load-an-asset-at-build-time).

## API

```js
import { Asset } from 'expo-asset';
```

## Hooks

### `useAssets(moduleIds)`

Supported platforms: Android, iOS, tvOS, Web.

| Parameter | Type |
| --- | --- |
| `moduleIds` | `number | number[]` |

  

Downloads and stores one or more assets locally. After the assets are loaded, this hook returns a list of asset instances. If something went wrong when loading the assets, an error is returned.

> Note, the assets are not "reloaded" when you dynamically change the asset list.

Returns: `[Asset[] | undefined, Error | undefined]`

Returns an array containing:

-   on the first position, a list of all loaded assets. If they aren't loaded yet, this value is `undefined`.
-   on the second position, an error which encountered when loading the assets. If there was no error, this value is `undefined`.

Example

```tsx
const [assets, error] = useAssets([require('path/to/asset.jpg'), require('path/to/other.png')]);

return assets ? <Image source={assets[0]} /> : null;
```

## Classes

### `Asset`

Supported platforms: Android, iOS, tvOS, Web.

The `Asset` class represents an asset in your app. It gives metadata about the asset (such as its name and type) and provides facilities to load the asset data.

Asset Properties

### `downloaded`

Supported platforms: Android, iOS, tvOS, Web.

Type: `boolean` • Default: `false`

Whether the asset has finished downloading from a call to [`downloadAsync()`](#downloadasync).

### `hash`

Supported platforms: Android, iOS, tvOS, Web.

Read Only • Literal type: `union` • Default: `null`

The MD5 hash of the asset's data.

Acceptable values are: `string` | `null`

### `height`

Supported platforms: Android, iOS, tvOS, Web.

Literal type: `union` • Default: `null`

If the asset is an image, the height of the image data divided by the scale factor. The scale factor is the number after `@` in the filename, or `1` if not present.

Acceptable values are: `number` | `null`

### `localUri`

Supported platforms: Android, iOS, tvOS, Web.

Literal type: `union` • Default: `null`

If the asset has been downloaded (by calling [`downloadAsync()`](#downloadasync)), the `file://` URI pointing to the local file on the device that contains the asset data.

Acceptable values are: `string` | `null`

### `name`

Supported platforms: Android, iOS, tvOS, Web.

Type: `string`

The name of the asset file without the extension. Also without the part from `@` onward in the filename (used to specify scale factor for images).

### `type`

Supported platforms: Android, iOS, tvOS, Web.

Read Only • Type: `string`

The extension of the asset filename.

### `uri`

Supported platforms: Android, iOS, tvOS, Web.

Read Only • Type: `string`

A URI that points to the asset's data on the remote server. When running the published version of your app, this refers to the location on Expo's asset server where Expo has stored your asset. When running the app from Expo CLI during development, this URI points to Expo CLI's server running on your computer and the asset is served directly from your computer. If you are not using Classic Updates (legacy), this field should be ignored as we ensure your assets are on device before running your application logic.

### `width`

Supported platforms: Android, iOS, tvOS, Web.

Literal type: `union` • Default: `null`

If the asset is an image, the width of the image data divided by the scale factor. The scale factor is the number after `@` in the filename, or `1` if not present.

Acceptable values are: `number` | `null`

Asset Methods

### `downloadAsync()`

Supported platforms: Android, iOS, tvOS, Web.

Downloads the asset data to a local file in the device's cache directory. Once the returned promise is fulfilled without error, the [`localUri`](#localuri) field of this asset points to a local file containing the asset data. The asset is only downloaded if an up-to-date local file for the asset isn't already present due to an earlier download. The downloaded `Asset` will be returned when the promise is resolved.

> **Note:** There is no guarantee that files downloaded via `downloadAsync` persist between app sessions. `downloadAsync` stores files in the caches directory, so it's up to the OS to clear this folder at its own discretion or when the user manually purges the caches directory. Downloaded assets are stored as `ExponentAsset-{cacheFileId}.{extension}` within the cache directory. To manually clear cached assets, you can use [`expo-file-system`](/versions/v55.0.0/sdk/filesystem) to delete the cache directory: `Paths.cache.delete()` or use the legacy API `deleteAsync(cacheDirectory)`.

Returns: `Promise<asset>`

Returns a Promise which fulfills with an `Asset` instance.

### `fromMetadata(meta)`

Supported platforms: Android, iOS, tvOS, Web.

| Parameter | Type |
| --- | --- |
| `meta` | [AssetMetadata](#assetmetadata) |

  

Returns: `Asset`

### `fromModule(virtualAssetModule)`

Supported platforms: Android, iOS, tvOS, Web.

| Parameter | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `virtualAssetModule` | `string | number | { height: number, uri: string, width: number }` | The value of `require('path/to/file')` for the asset or external network URL |

  

Returns the [`Asset`](#asset) instance representing an asset given its module or URL.

Returns: `Asset`

The [`Asset`](#asset) instance for the asset.

### `fromURI(uri)`

Supported platforms: Android, iOS, tvOS, Web.

| Parameter | Type |
| --- | --- |
| `uri` | `string` |

  

Returns: `Asset`

### `loadAsync(moduleId)`

Supported platforms: Android, iOS, tvOS, Web.

| Parameter | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `moduleId` | `string | number | number[] | string[]` | An array of `require('path/to/file')` or external network URLs. Can also be just one module or URL without an Array. |

  

A helper that wraps `Asset.fromModule(module).downloadAsync` for convenience.

Returns: `Promise<asset[]>`

Returns a Promise that fulfills with an array of `Asset`s when the asset(s) has been saved to disk.

Example

```ts
const [{ localUri }] = await Asset.loadAsync(require('./assets/snack-icon.png'));
```

## Types

### `AssetDescriptor`

Supported platforms: Android, iOS, tvOS, Web.

| Property | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| hash(optional) | `string | null` | - |
| height(optional) | `number | null` | - |
| name | `string` | - |
| type | `string` | - |
| uri | `string` | - |
| width(optional) | `number | null` | - |

### `AssetMetadata`

Supported platforms: Android, iOS, tvOS, Web.

Type: [Pick](https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/utility-types.html#picktype-keys)<[PackagerAsset](https://github.com/facebook/react-native/blob/main/packages/assets/registry.js), 'httpServerLocation' | 'name' | 'hash' | 'type' | 'scales' | 'width' | 'height'\> extended by:

| Property | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| fileHashes(optional) | `string[]` | - |
| fileUris(optional) | `string[]` | - |
| uri(optional) | `string` | - |