diff --git a/include/hardware/audio_alsaops.h b/include/hardware/audio_alsaops.h
new file mode 100644
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/hardware/audio_alsaops.h
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2014 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+/* This file contains shared utility functions to handle the tinyalsa
+ * implementation for Android internal audio, generally in the hardware layer.
+ * Some routines may log a fatal error on failure, as noted.
+ */
+
+#ifndef ANDROID_AUDIO_ALSAOPS_H
+#define ANDROID_AUDIO_ALSAOPS_H
+
+#include <cutils/log.h>
+#include <system/audio.h>
+#include <tinyalsa/asoundlib.h>
+
+__BEGIN_DECLS
+
+/* Converts audio_format to pcm_format.
+ * Parameters:
+ *  format  the audio_format_t to convert
+ *
+ * Logs a fatal error if format is not a valid convertible audio_format_t.
+ */
+static inline enum pcm_format pcm_format_from_audio_format(audio_format_t format)
+{
+    switch (format) {
+#ifdef HAVE_BIG_ENDIAN
+    case AUDIO_FORMAT_PCM_16_BIT:
+        return PCM_FORMAT_S16_BE;
+    case AUDIO_FORMAT_PCM_24_BIT_PACKED:
+        return PCM_FORMAT_S24_3BE;
+    case AUDIO_FORMAT_PCM_32_BIT:
+        return PCM_FORMAT_S32_BE;
+    case AUDIO_FORMAT_PCM_8_24_BIT:
+        return PCM_FORMAT_S24_BE;
+#else
+    case AUDIO_FORMAT_PCM_16_BIT:
+        return PCM_FORMAT_S16_LE;
+    case AUDIO_FORMAT_PCM_24_BIT_PACKED:
+        return PCM_FORMAT_S24_3LE;
+    case AUDIO_FORMAT_PCM_32_BIT:
+        return PCM_FORMAT_S32_LE;
+    case AUDIO_FORMAT_PCM_8_24_BIT:
+        return PCM_FORMAT_S24_LE;
+#endif
+    case AUDIO_FORMAT_PCM_FLOAT:  /* there is no equivalent for float */
+    default:
+        LOG_ALWAYS_FATAL("pcm_format_from_audio_format: invalid audio format %#x", format);
+        return 0;
+    }
+}
+
+/* Converts pcm_format to audio_format.
+ * Parameters:
+ *  format  the pcm_format to convert
+ *
+ * Logs a fatal error if format is not a valid convertible pcm_format.
+ */
+static inline audio_format_t audio_format_from_pcm_format(enum pcm_format format)
+{
+    switch (format) {
+#ifdef HAVE_BIG_ENDIAN
+    case PCM_FORMAT_S16_BE:
+        return AUDIO_FORMAT_PCM_16_BIT;
+    case PCM_FORMAT_S24_3BE:
+        return AUDIO_FORMAT_PCM_24_BIT_PACKED;
+    case PCM_FORMAT_S24_BE:
+        return AUDIO_FORMAT_PCM_8_24_BIT;
+    case PCM_FORMAT_S32_BE:
+        return AUDIO_FORMAT_PCM_32_BIT;
+#else
+    case PCM_FORMAT_S16_LE:
+        return AUDIO_FORMAT_PCM_16_BIT;
+    case PCM_FORMAT_S24_3LE:
+        return AUDIO_FORMAT_PCM_24_BIT_PACKED;
+    case PCM_FORMAT_S24_LE:
+        return AUDIO_FORMAT_PCM_8_24_BIT;
+    case PCM_FORMAT_S32_LE:
+        return AUDIO_FORMAT_PCM_32_BIT;
+#endif
+    default:
+        LOG_ALWAYS_FATAL("audio_format_from_pcm_format: invalid pcm format %#x", format);
+        return 0;
+    }
+}
+
+__END_DECLS
+
+#endif /* ANDROID_AUDIO_ALSAOPS_H */