How to implement an android:background that doesn't stretch?

You can create an xml bitmap and use it as background for the view. To prevent stretching you can specify android:gravity attribute.

for example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<bitmap xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:src="@drawable/dvdr"
    android:tileMode="disabled" android:gravity="top" >
</bitmap>

There are a lot of options you can use to customize the rendering of the image

http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/drawable-resource.html#Bitmap

You should use ImageView if you don't want it to stretch. Background images will always stretch to fit the view. You need to set it as a Drawable to force the image aspect to the object.

Otherwise, if you are sticking with the Button idea, then you will need to force the scaling in the button to prevent the image from stretching.

Code:

onCreate(Bundle bundle) {
  // Set content layout, etc up here

  // Now adjust button sizes
  Button b = (Button) findViewById(R.id.somebutton);
  int someDimension = 50; //50pixels
  b.setWidth(someDimension);
  b.setHeight(someDimension);
}

Simply using ImageButton instead of Button fixes the problem.

<ImageButton android:layout_width="30dp"
             android:layout_height="30dp"
             android:src="@drawable/bgimage" />

and you can set

android:background="@null"

to remove button background if you want.

Quick Fix !! :-)