diff --git a/tools/aapt2/cmd/Convert.cpp b/tools/aapt2/cmd/Convert.cpp
index cf58f98..aeedf8b 100644
--- a/tools/aapt2/cmd/Convert.cpp
+++ b/tools/aapt2/cmd/Convert.cpp
@@ -395,6 +395,12 @@
                                     << output_format_.value());
     return 1;
   }
+  if (enable_sparse_encoding_) {
+    table_flattener_options_.sparse_entries = SparseEntriesMode::Enabled;
+  }
+  if (force_sparse_encoding_) {
+    table_flattener_options_.sparse_entries = SparseEntriesMode::Forced;
+  }
 
   return Convert(&context, apk.get(), writer.get(), format, table_flattener_options_,
                  xml_flattener_options_);
diff --git a/tools/aapt2/cmd/Convert.h b/tools/aapt2/cmd/Convert.h
index 2cdb0c8..6c09649 100644
--- a/tools/aapt2/cmd/Convert.h
+++ b/tools/aapt2/cmd/Convert.h
@@ -34,10 +34,18 @@
     AddOptionalFlag("--output-format", android::base::StringPrintf("Format of the output. "
             "Accepted values are '%s' and '%s'. When not set, defaults to '%s'.",
         kOutputFormatProto, kOutputFormatBinary, kOutputFormatBinary), &output_format_);
-    AddOptionalSwitch("--enable-sparse-encoding",
+    AddOptionalSwitch(
+        "--enable-sparse-encoding",
         "Enables encoding sparse entries using a binary search tree.\n"
-        "This decreases APK size at the cost of resource retrieval performance.",
-         &table_flattener_options_.use_sparse_entries);
+        "This decreases APK size at the cost of resource retrieval performance.\n"
+        "Only applies sparse encoding to Android O+ resources or all resources if minSdk of "
+        "the APK is O+",
+        &enable_sparse_encoding_);
+    AddOptionalSwitch("--force-sparse-encoding",
+                      "Enables encoding sparse entries using a binary search tree.\n"
+                      "This decreases APK size at the cost of resource retrieval performance.\n"
+                      "Applies sparse encoding to all resources regardless of minSdk.",
+                      &force_sparse_encoding_);
     AddOptionalSwitch("--keep-raw-values",
         android::base::StringPrintf("Preserve raw attribute values in xml files when using the"
             " '%s' output format", kOutputFormatBinary),
@@ -56,6 +64,8 @@
   std::string output_path_;
   std::optional<std::string> output_format_;
   bool verbose_ = false;
+  bool enable_sparse_encoding_ = false;
+  bool force_sparse_encoding_ = false;
 };
 
 int Convert(IAaptContext* context, LoadedApk* input, IArchiveWriter* output_writer,
diff --git a/tools/aapt2/cmd/Link.cpp b/tools/aapt2/cmd/Link.cpp
index 74a8bbd..116dcd6 100644
--- a/tools/aapt2/cmd/Link.cpp
+++ b/tools/aapt2/cmd/Link.cpp
@@ -2419,6 +2419,9 @@
                 << "the --merge-only flag can be only used when building a static library");
     return 1;
   }
+  if (options_.use_sparse_encoding) {
+    options_.table_flattener_options.sparse_entries = SparseEntriesMode::Enabled;
+  }
 
   // The default build type.
   context.SetPackageType(PackageType::kApp);
diff --git a/tools/aapt2/cmd/Link.h b/tools/aapt2/cmd/Link.h
index a5623cb..6c8d143 100644
--- a/tools/aapt2/cmd/Link.h
+++ b/tools/aapt2/cmd/Link.h
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@
   bool no_resource_removal = false;
   bool no_xml_namespaces = false;
   bool do_not_compress_anything = false;
+  bool use_sparse_encoding = false;
   std::unordered_set<std::string> extensions_to_not_compress;
   std::optional<std::regex> regex_to_not_compress;
 
@@ -156,8 +157,8 @@
             "defaults. Use this only when building runtime resource overlay packages.",
         &options_.no_resource_removal);
     AddOptionalSwitch("--enable-sparse-encoding",
-        "This decreases APK size at the cost of resource retrieval performance.",
-        &options_.table_flattener_options.use_sparse_entries);
+                      "This decreases APK size at the cost of resource retrieval performance.",
+                      &options_.use_sparse_encoding);
     AddOptionalSwitch("-x", "Legacy flag that specifies to use the package identifier 0x01.",
         &legacy_x_flag_);
     AddOptionalSwitch("-z", "Require localization of strings marked 'suggested'.",
diff --git a/tools/aapt2/cmd/Optimize.cpp b/tools/aapt2/cmd/Optimize.cpp
index 4033983..e37c2d4 100644
--- a/tools/aapt2/cmd/Optimize.cpp
+++ b/tools/aapt2/cmd/Optimize.cpp
@@ -427,6 +427,13 @@
     return 1;
   }
 
+  if (options_.enable_sparse_encoding) {
+    options_.table_flattener_options.sparse_entries = SparseEntriesMode::Enabled;
+  }
+  if (options_.force_sparse_encoding) {
+    options_.table_flattener_options.sparse_entries = SparseEntriesMode::Forced;
+  }
+
   if (target_densities_) {
     // Parse the target screen densities.
     for (const StringPiece& config_str : util::Tokenize(target_densities_.value(), ',')) {
diff --git a/tools/aapt2/cmd/Optimize.h b/tools/aapt2/cmd/Optimize.h
index ff63e8d..10b84b0c 100644
--- a/tools/aapt2/cmd/Optimize.h
+++ b/tools/aapt2/cmd/Optimize.h
@@ -61,6 +61,12 @@
 
   // Path to the output map of original resource paths to shortened paths.
   std::optional<std::string> shortened_paths_map_path;
+
+  // Whether sparse encoding should be used for O+ resources.
+  bool enable_sparse_encoding = false;
+
+  // Whether sparse encoding should be used for all resources.
+  bool force_sparse_encoding = false;
 };
 
 class OptimizeCommand : public Command {
@@ -96,10 +102,18 @@
         "Comma separated list of artifacts to keep. If none are specified,\n"
             "all artifacts will be kept.",
         &kept_artifacts_);
-    AddOptionalSwitch("--enable-sparse-encoding",
+    AddOptionalSwitch(
+        "--enable-sparse-encoding",
         "Enables encoding sparse entries using a binary search tree.\n"
-            "This decreases APK size at the cost of resource retrieval performance.",
-        &options_.table_flattener_options.use_sparse_entries);
+        "This decreases APK size at the cost of resource retrieval performance.\n"
+        "Only applies sparse encoding to Android O+ resources or all resources if minSdk of "
+        "the APK is O+",
+        &options_.enable_sparse_encoding);
+    AddOptionalSwitch("--force-sparse-encoding",
+                      "Enables encoding sparse entries using a binary search tree.\n"
+                      "This decreases APK size at the cost of resource retrieval performance.\n"
+                      "Applies sparse encoding to all resources regardless of minSdk.",
+                      &options_.force_sparse_encoding);
     AddOptionalSwitch("--collapse-resource-names",
         "Collapses resource names to a single value in the key string pool. Resources can \n"
             "be exempted using the \"no_collapse\" directive in a file specified by "
diff --git a/tools/aapt2/format/binary/TableFlattener.cpp b/tools/aapt2/format/binary/TableFlattener.cpp
index 4fb7ed1..22f278c 100644
--- a/tools/aapt2/format/binary/TableFlattener.cpp
+++ b/tools/aapt2/format/binary/TableFlattener.cpp
@@ -231,14 +231,14 @@
 class PackageFlattener {
  public:
   PackageFlattener(IAaptContext* context, const ResourceTablePackageView& package,
-                   const std::map<size_t, std::string>* shared_libs, bool use_sparse_entries,
-                   bool collapse_key_stringpool,
+                   const std::map<size_t, std::string>* shared_libs,
+                   SparseEntriesMode sparse_entries, bool collapse_key_stringpool,
                    const std::set<ResourceName>& name_collapse_exemptions)
       : context_(context),
         diag_(context->GetDiagnostics()),
         package_(package),
         shared_libs_(shared_libs),
-        use_sparse_entries_(use_sparse_entries),
+        sparse_entries_(sparse_entries),
         collapse_key_stringpool_(collapse_key_stringpool),
         name_collapse_exemptions_(name_collapse_exemptions) {
   }
@@ -367,10 +367,12 @@
       }
     }
 
-    bool sparse_encode = use_sparse_entries_;
+    bool sparse_encode = sparse_entries_ == SparseEntriesMode::Enabled ||
+                         sparse_entries_ == SparseEntriesMode::Forced;
 
-    if (context_->GetMinSdkVersion() == 0 && config.sdkVersion == 0) {
-      // Sparse encode if sdk version is not set in context and config.
+    if (sparse_entries_ == SparseEntriesMode::Forced ||
+        (context_->GetMinSdkVersion() == 0 && config.sdkVersion == 0)) {
+      // Sparse encode if forced or sdk version is not set in context and config.
     } else {
       // Otherwise, only sparse encode if the entries will be read on platforms S_V2+.
       sparse_encode = sparse_encode &&
@@ -712,7 +714,7 @@
   android::IDiagnostics* diag_;
   const ResourceTablePackageView package_;
   const std::map<size_t, std::string>* shared_libs_;
-  bool use_sparse_entries_;
+  SparseEntriesMode sparse_entries_;
   android::StringPool type_pool_;
   android::StringPool key_pool_;
   bool collapse_key_stringpool_;
@@ -768,7 +770,7 @@
     }
 
     PackageFlattener flattener(context, package, &table->included_packages_,
-                               options_.use_sparse_entries, options_.collapse_key_stringpool,
+                               options_.sparse_entries, options_.collapse_key_stringpool,
                                options_.name_collapse_exemptions);
     if (!flattener.FlattenPackage(&package_buffer)) {
       return false;
diff --git a/tools/aapt2/format/binary/TableFlattener.h b/tools/aapt2/format/binary/TableFlattener.h
index 1eec0e4..c6d3033 100644
--- a/tools/aapt2/format/binary/TableFlattener.h
+++ b/tools/aapt2/format/binary/TableFlattener.h
@@ -29,12 +29,20 @@
 // preferred.
 constexpr const size_t kSparseEncodingThreshold = 60;
 
+enum class SparseEntriesMode {
+  // Disables sparse encoding for entries.
+  Disabled,
+  // Enables sparse encoding for all entries for APKs with O+ minSdk. For APKs with minSdk less
+  // than O only applies sparse encoding for resource configuration available on O+.
+  Enabled,
+  // Enables sparse encoding for all entries regardless of minSdk.
+  Forced,
+};
+
 struct TableFlattenerOptions {
-  // When true, types for configurations with a sparse set of entries are encoded
+  // When enabled, types for configurations with a sparse set of entries are encoded
   // as a sparse map of entry ID and offset to actual data.
-  // This is only available on platforms O+ and will only be respected when
-  // minSdk is O+.
-  bool use_sparse_entries = false;
+  SparseEntriesMode sparse_entries = SparseEntriesMode::Disabled;
 
   // When true, the key string pool in the final ResTable
   // is collapsed to a single entry. All resource entries
diff --git a/tools/aapt2/format/binary/TableFlattener_test.cpp b/tools/aapt2/format/binary/TableFlattener_test.cpp
index f551bf6..b69dadd 100644
--- a/tools/aapt2/format/binary/TableFlattener_test.cpp
+++ b/tools/aapt2/format/binary/TableFlattener_test.cpp
@@ -337,7 +337,7 @@
   auto table_in = BuildTableWithSparseEntries(context.get(), sparse_config, 0.25f);
 
   TableFlattenerOptions options;
-  options.use_sparse_entries = true;
+  options.sparse_entries = SparseEntriesMode::Enabled;
 
   std::string no_sparse_contents;
   ASSERT_TRUE(Flatten(context.get(), {}, table_in.get(), &no_sparse_contents));
@@ -380,7 +380,29 @@
   auto table_in = BuildTableWithSparseEntries(context.get(), sparse_config, 0.25f);
 
   TableFlattenerOptions options;
-  options.use_sparse_entries = true;
+  options.sparse_entries = SparseEntriesMode::Enabled;
+
+  std::string no_sparse_contents;
+  ASSERT_TRUE(Flatten(context.get(), {}, table_in.get(), &no_sparse_contents));
+
+  std::string sparse_contents;
+  ASSERT_TRUE(Flatten(context.get(), options, table_in.get(), &sparse_contents));
+
+  EXPECT_GT(no_sparse_contents.size(), sparse_contents.size());
+}
+
+TEST_F(TableFlattenerTest, FlattenSparseEntryRegardlessOfMinSdkWhenForced) {
+  std::unique_ptr<IAaptContext> context = test::ContextBuilder()
+                                              .SetCompilationPackage("android")
+                                              .SetPackageId(0x01)
+                                              .SetMinSdkVersion(SDK_LOLLIPOP)
+                                              .Build();
+
+  const ConfigDescription sparse_config = test::ParseConfigOrDie("en-rGB");
+  auto table_in = BuildTableWithSparseEntries(context.get(), sparse_config, 0.25f);
+
+  TableFlattenerOptions options;
+  options.sparse_entries = SparseEntriesMode::Forced;
 
   std::string no_sparse_contents;
   ASSERT_TRUE(Flatten(context.get(), {}, table_in.get(), &no_sparse_contents));
@@ -399,7 +421,7 @@
   auto table_in = BuildTableWithSparseEntries(context.get(), sparse_config, 0.25f);
 
   TableFlattenerOptions options;
-  options.use_sparse_entries = true;
+  options.sparse_entries = SparseEntriesMode::Enabled;
 
   std::string no_sparse_contents;
   ASSERT_TRUE(Flatten(context.get(), {}, table_in.get(), &no_sparse_contents));
@@ -442,7 +464,7 @@
   auto table_in = BuildTableWithSparseEntries(context.get(), sparse_config, 0.80f);
 
   TableFlattenerOptions options;
-  options.use_sparse_entries = true;
+  options.sparse_entries = SparseEntriesMode::Enabled;
 
   std::string no_sparse_contents;
   ASSERT_TRUE(Flatten(context.get(), {}, table_in.get(), &no_sparse_contents));