Where to place an XML file containing data within an Android app

You can put it in the res/raw folder. Then you will access it using:

getResources().openRawResource(resourceName)

I'd say that depends. What do you save in your XML-File? There also is a res/xml-folder, where XML-Files can be kept. But Android does nearly anything with XML-Files, so you might want to read my little Tutorial about where to put which recourses.

Also, there is a difference between the assets and the res-directory's:

res

• No subdirectorys are allowed under the specific resource-folders.
• The R-class indexes all resources and provides simple access.
• There are some simple methods which help reading files stored in the res-directory

assets

• Subdirectorys are allowed (as much as you like).
• No indexing by the R-class
• Reading resources stored in assets is done using the AssetManager.