diff --git a/microdroid/payload/Android.bp b/microdroid/payload/Android.bp
index f77c037..da4e09d 100644
--- a/microdroid/payload/Android.bp
+++ b/microdroid/payload/Android.bp
@@ -36,6 +36,17 @@
     ],
 }
 
+java_library_host {
+    name: "microdroid_payload_metadata",
+    srcs: [
+        "src/**/*.java",
+        "metadata.proto",
+    ],
+    proto: {
+        type: "lite",
+    },
+}
+
 cc_binary_host {
     name: "mk_payload",
     srcs: [
diff --git a/microdroid/payload/metadata.proto b/microdroid/payload/metadata.proto
index c74c23b..6b999af 100644
--- a/microdroid/payload/metadata.proto
+++ b/microdroid/payload/metadata.proto
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@
 
 package android.microdroid;
 
+option java_package = "com.android.virt";
+option java_outer_classname = "PayloadMetadataProtos";
+
 // Metadata is the body of the "metadata" partition
 message Metadata {
   uint32 version = 1;
diff --git a/microdroid/payload/src/com/android/virt/PayloadMetadata.java b/microdroid/payload/src/com/android/virt/PayloadMetadata.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c2f0a7f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/microdroid/payload/src/com/android/virt/PayloadMetadata.java
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+package com.android.virt;
+
+import java.io.DataOutputStream;
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+/** Provides utility to create/read/write PayloadMetadata */
+public class PayloadMetadata {
+    public static void write(PayloadMetadataProtos.Metadata metadata, File file)
+            throws IOException {
+        byte[] message = metadata.toByteArray();
+
+        try (DataOutputStream os = new DataOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(file))) {
+            // write length prefix (4-byte, big-endian)
+            os.writeInt(message.length);
+            // write the message
+            os.write(message);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public static PayloadMetadataProtos.Metadata metadata(
+            String configPath,
+            PayloadMetadataProtos.ApkPayload apk,
+            Iterable<? extends PayloadMetadataProtos.ApexPayload> apexes) {
+        return PayloadMetadataProtos.Metadata.newBuilder()
+                .setVersion(1)
+                .setConfigPath(configPath)
+                .setApk(apk)
+                .addAllApexes(apexes)
+                .build();
+    }
+
+    public static PayloadMetadataProtos.ApkPayload apk(String name) {
+        return PayloadMetadataProtos.ApkPayload.newBuilder()
+                .setName(name)
+                .setPayloadPartitionName("microdroid-apk")
+                .setIdsigPartitionName("microdroid-apk-idsig")
+                .build();
+    }
+
+    public static PayloadMetadataProtos.ApexPayload apex(String name) {
+        return PayloadMetadataProtos.ApexPayload.newBuilder()
+                .setName(name)
+                .setIsFactory(true)
+                .setPartitionName(name)
+                .build();
+    }
+}