Android Studio - Generating a signed bundle leaves out local json file

Question

I have a local json file which is critical to the app. The file is around 28mbs in size. I have it stored under res>raw. However, when I generate a signed bundle from release variant, the build is only 4 mbs. If I generate a signed bundle from debug, it's 41 mbs and does include the json file.

I've tried using source sets but no effect. This is what my app structure looks like.

Any idea what I might be missing?

Answer 1

After much research, I found out that the maximum size of a raw file is 1023kb. Anything more than that and you're left with unexpected behaviour. I fixed it by breaking the given json file (~28mb) into 30 small json files.