android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #12: Error inflating class <unknown>

Question

The inflate exception is not actually the problem but really comes from another deeper issue in your layout that is then wrapped in an InflateException. A common issue is an out of memory exception when trying to inflate an ImageView loading a drawable resource. If one of these resources has a high pixel resolution it would take a lot of memory causing then an inflate exception.

So basically verify that the pixel resolution in all your image drawables is just the minimum necessary for your layout.

This can also happen if you use a VectorDrawable using support library and forgot to use app:srcCompat instead of android:src

Exact error is: Binary XML file line #XX: Error inflating class ImageView

See that link

ViewFlipper loads all images into memory during layout inflating. Because my images are big it takes many memory, I replaced ViewFlipper with ImageSwitcher which can change the images with animation like ViewFlipper but it loads only one image at the time.

I had the same error when creating custom view with only one constructor, try to define all constructor for your custom views.

   public CustomWebView(Context context) {
        super(context);
        init();
    }

    public CustomWebView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
        super(context, attrs);
        init();
    }

    public CustomWebView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle) {
        super(context, attrs, defStyle);
        init();
    }

I know the question is already answered but still I'm posting with thought that may someone run into this kind of problem.

In my case problem is i'm loading my application to phone which refer layouts from res/layout/ folder and values for @dimens from res/values/dimens here it's font_22 which it's trying to access and it's define in res/values-xlarge/dimens.

I'm actually updating UI of existing project.

I ran into this problem because I'm using IDE Eclipse where I ctrl+space for hint while writing xml for layout folder it displays all values from values as well as values-xlarge folder regardless of for which folder I'm writing.

I also know that the values in both files should be same to mapped for different screens.

Hope this may help someone run into this kind of silly problem.

I encountered the same bug and found the root reason is:

Use Application Context to inflate view.

Inflating with Activity Context fixed the bug.

I found the same error, and it took two days to identify what the error was.

The error was simply because I was trying to use: android:background

Rather than: app:srcCompat

in an SVG file.

In your case, I believe this is it

<ImageView 
    android:scaleType="fitXY" 
    android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
    android:layout_height="fill_parent" 
    android:src="@drawable/tour_11"      <-- the error is here !
 />

I recommend using it this way

add this to your build.gradle app

android {  
   defaultConfig {  
     vectorDrawables.useSupportLibrary = true  
    }  
 }

and

<androidx.appcompat.widget.AppCompatImageView  <-- use **AppCompatImageView** not **ImageView**
        android:scaleType="fitXY" 
        android:layout_width="match_parent" 
        android:layout_height="match_parent" 
        app:srcCompat="@drawable/tour_11"
     />

I hope this helps.