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Migrate Eclipse ADT project to Android Studio: Error Multiple dex files define Landroid/support/v4

I have an old Android project made with Eclipse ADT and I'm trying to migrate it to Android Studio.
I follow several guides and howtos and maybe I have almost migrated it.
When I try to build it I get the following error:
Error:Error converting bytecode to dex:Cause: com.android.dex.DexException: Multiple dex files define Landroid/support/v4/accessibilityservice/AccessibilityServiceInfoCompat$AccessibilityServiceInfoVersionImpl;
I have read a lot of solutions but none seems to suit to my problem.
But maybe this answer is for my case...
Here is the Project status in Eclipse project explorer:
and here is the migrated Project in Android Studio project view:
Maybe the problem is the dependencies property of every gradle script:
app-app:
dependencies {
compile project(':androidsupportv7appcompat')
compile project(':library')
compile files('libs/android-support-v4.jar')
}
androidsupportv7appcompat:
dependencies {
compile files('libs/android-support-v4.jar')
compile files('libs/android-support-v7-appcompat.jar')
}
googleplayservice_lib:
dependencies {
compile files('libs/google-play-services.jar')
}
library: (a Google Maps library for markers clustering)
dependencies {
compile project(':googleplayservices_lib')
compile files('libs/android-support-v4.jar')
}
Do you know if something could be wrong in these dependencies configurations?
Otherwise, what could be the cause?

First of all, you should remove the Support Library module from your Android Studio project. Instead add a dependency to your apps gradle build file. If your library uses components from the support library, its build file should have the proper dependencies also.
dependencies {
compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:25.3.1'
compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:25.3.1'
}
Be sure to remove the Support Library JAR files from your lib's folder.
Similarly you should add a dependency for Google Play Services.
Dependency management with Gradle is one of the many advantages of moving to Android Studio. If the library module is not written by you, you should also find the correct take dependency to add to your build file instead of the module you have now.

in one of my old projects, I had to put this in the gradle file under app section
multiDexEnabled true in the default config and then add the dex options below... maybe this will help.
defaultConfig {
applicationId "xxx"
minSdkVersion 14
targetSdkVersion 24
versionCode 4
versionName "2.2"
multiDexEnabled true
}
dexOptions {
javaMaxHeapSize "2g"
}

android studio how to use library dependencies already added in library module

--MyProject (module)
--build.gradle
dependencies {
compile fileTree(include: ['*.jar'], dir: 'libs')
compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:22.2.1'
compile project ':MyLib'
}
--MyLib (module)
--build.gradle
dependencies {
compile 'com.mcxiaoke.volley:library:1.0.16'
compile 'com.google.code.gson:gson:2.3.1'
}
In my library module called MyLib, I've added (for example) Gson & Volley as library.
I wish to use Gson and Volley api in the MyProject module without adding the libraries again as dependencies but I can't. And when I add Gson or Volley in the MyProject build.gradle, it causes an error:
multiple dex files define
How can I reuse dependencies that already added in the MyLib module? If this is not possible, how do I avoid this multiple dex files define error? I've tried Android Studio Gradle Error: Multiple dex files define
dexOptions {
preDexLibraries = false
}
but it didn't help.
Thanks in advance.

If you wish to use the Volley and Gson libraries in each of your modules, you will need to add both libraries as dependencies in both of your build.gradle files (MyProject and MyLib).
As for the multiple dex files define error, I would try taking a look at these potential solutions:
Android Studio build error - Multiple dex files define Landroid/support/v4/
Unable to execute dex: Multiple dex files define Lcom/myapp/R$array;
Good luck!

Java finished with non-zero exit value 2 - Android Gradle

I'm getting this error executing my Android app (I cleaned it and then built it, but the error is still present)
Sync: OK
Make Project: OK
Clean: OK
Run: Error
Error:Execution failed for task ':app:dexDebug' .com.android.ide.common.process.ProcessException: org.gradle.process.internal.ExecException: Process 'command 'C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_25\bin\java.exe'' finished with non-zero exit value 2
My gradle file:
apply plugin: 'com.android.application'
android {
compileSdkVersion 21
buildToolsVersion "21.1.2"
defaultConfig {
applicationId "com.rzr.rzevallosr.miappdepruebas"
minSdkVersion 19
targetSdkVersion 21
versionCode 1
versionName "1.0"
}
buildTypes {
release {
minifyEnabled false
proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
}
}
productFlavors {
}
repositories {
mavenCentral()
flatDir {
dirs 'libs'
}
}
}
dependencies {
compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
// This library handles authentication and authorization
compile 'com.spotify.sdk:spotify-auth:1.0.0-beta9#aar'
// This library handles music playback
compile 'com.spotify.sdk:spotify-player:1.0.0-beta9#aar'
compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:21.0.3'
compile 'com.android.support:recyclerview-v7:21.0.+'
compile 'com.squareup.retrofit:retrofit:1.9.0'
compile 'com.squareup.okhttp:okhttp-urlconnection:2.2.0'
compile 'com.squareup.okhttp:okhttp:2.2.0'
compile files('libs/spotify-web-api-android-master-0.1.0.jar')
compile files('libs/okio-1.3.0.jar')
}
EDIT: I didn't see "compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])" it was compiling twice my libraries, so i just comment:
//compile 'com.squareup.retrofit:retrofit:1.9.0'
//compile 'com.squareup.okhttp:okhttp-urlconnection:2.2.0'
//compile 'com.squareup.okhttp:okhttp:2.2.0'
//compile files('libs/spotify-web-api-android-master-0.1.0.jar')
//compile files('libs/okio-1.3.0.jar')
and it works fine.

This issue is quite possibly due to exceeding the 65K methods dex limit imposed by Android. This problem can be solved either by cleaning the project, and removing some unused libraries and methods from dependencies in build.gradle, OR by adding multidex support.
So, If you have to keep libraries and methods, then you can enable multi dex support by declaring it in the gradle config.
defaultConfig {
// Enabling multidex support.
multiDexEnabled true
}
You can read more about multidex support and developing apps with more than 65K methods here.

For me the problem was, i had put a unnecessary complie library code in build.gradle
dependencies {
compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:7.5.0'
}
which was causing over 65k methods, so removed it,gradle sync, cleaned project, and then ran again and then this error stopped.
I needed just maps and gcm so i put these lines and synced project
compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-gcm:7.5.0'
compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-location:7.5.0'
Hi people i again encountered this problem and this time it was because of changing build tools version and it really required me to enable multidex..so i added these my app's build.gradle file..
defaultConfig {
applicationId "com.am.android"
minSdkVersion 13
targetSdkVersion 23
// Enabling multidex support.
multiDexEnabled true
}
dexOptions {
incremental true
javaMaxHeapSize "2048M"
jumboMode = true
}
dependencies {
compile fileTree(include: ['*.jar'], dir: 'libs')
compile 'com.android.support:multidex:1.0.1'
}
And create a class that extends Application class and include this method inside the class..
#Override
protected void attachBaseContext(Context base) {
super.attachBaseContext(base);
MultiDex.install(this);
}
also include in OnCreate method too
#Override
public void onCreate() {
MultiDex.install(this);
super.onCreate();
}

Just in case if someone still struggling with this and have no clue why is this happening and how to fix. In fact this error
Error:Execution failed for task ':app:dexDebug'. > com.android.ide.common.process.ProcessException: org.gradle.process.internal.ExecException: Process 'command 'C:\Program Files\Java\jdkx.x.x_xx\bin\java.exe'' finished with non-zero exit value 2
can have many reasons to happen but certainly not something related to your JDK version so don't wast your time in wrong direction.
These are two main reasons for this to happen
You have same library or jar file included several places and some of them conflicting with each other.
You are about to or already exceeded 65k method limit
First case can be fixed as follows:
Find out which dependencies you have included multiple times. In order to do this run following command in android studio terminal
gradlew -q dependencies yourProjectName_usually_app:dependencies --configuration compile
this will return all the dependencies but jar files that you include from lib folder
try to get rid of duplication marked with asterisk (*), this is not always possible but in some cases you still can do it, after this try to exclude modules that are included many times, you can do it like this
compile ('com.facebook.android:facebook-android-sdk:4.0.1'){
exclude module: 'support-v4'
}
For the second case when you exceeding method limit suggestion is to try to minimize it by removing included libraries (note sounds like first solution) if no way to do it add multiDexEnabled true to your defaultConfig
defaultConfig {
...
...
multiDexEnabled true
}
this increases method limit but it is not the best thing to do because of possible performance issues
IMPORTANT adding only multiDexEnabled true to defaultConfig is not enough in fact on all devices running android <5 Lollipop it will result in unexpected behavior and NoClassDefFoundError. how to solve it is described here

I didn't know (by then) that "compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])" compile all that has jar extension on libs folder, so i just comment (or delete) this lines:
//compile 'com.squareup.retrofit:retrofit:1.9.0'
//compile 'com.squareup.okhttp:okhttp-urlconnection:2.2.0'
//compile 'com.squareup.okhttp:okhttp:2.2.0'
//compile files('libs/spotify-web-api-android-master-0.1.0.jar')
//compile files('libs/okio-1.3.0.jar')
and it works fine. Thanks anyway! My bad.

I had the same issue and I fixed removing the library that were unnecessary
compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
I removed that library and I could run the project without any problem.

Mine got solved by enabling multiDex for debug builds.
defaultConfig {
multiDexEnabled true
}

I Reject Embedded JDK ( in 32bit ) because embedded JDK is 64bit
Right click your Project -> Open Module Setting -> SDK Location -> Uncheck Use embedded JDk then set your JDK Path, eg in Ubuntu /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-i386

Possible problem: You have exceeded dex 65k methods limit, may be you added some library or several methods before problem occurred?

If You have already updated your SDK and You also using google-play-services then you need to take care of the dependency because there are some kind of conflics with :
Follow the below : compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:+' Replace by compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:6.5.87'
Note: Here '6.5.87' is the google-play-service version. I hope it will help..

I think it's conflicts of .jar file in your project.
I have removed android-support-v4.jar from libs folder and its working !!!
if your project gives error, check in your build.gradle file
dependencies {
}

In my case, the problem was that the new library (gradle dependency) that I had added was relying on some other dependencies and two of those underlying dependencies were conflicting/clashing with some dependencies of other libraries/dependencies in my build script. Specifically, I added Apache Commons Validator (for email validation), and two of its dependencies (Apache Commons Logging and Apache Commons Collections) were conflicting with those used by Robolectric (because different versions of same libraries were present in my build path). So I excluded those conflicting versions of dependencies (modules) when adding the new dependency (the Validator):
compile ('commons-validator:commons-validator:1.4.1') {
exclude module: 'commons-logging'
exclude module: 'commons-collections'
}
You can see the dependencies of your gradle module(s) (you might have only one module in your project) using the following gradle command (I use the gradle wrapper that gets created for you if you have created your project in Android Studio/Intellij Idea). Run this command in your project's root directory:
./gradlew :YOUR-MODULE-NAME:dependencies
After adding those exclude directives and retrying to run, I got a duplicate file error for NOTICE.txtthat is used by some apache commons libraries like Logging and Collections. I had to exclude that text file when packaging. In my build.gradle, I added:
packagingOptions {
exclude 'META-INF/NOTICE'
exclude 'META-INF/notice.txt'
exclude 'META-INF/NOTICE.txt'
}
It turned out that the new library (the Validator) can work with slightly older versions of its dependencies/modules (which are already imported into my build path by another library (Robolectric)). This was the case with this specific library, but other libraries might be using the latest API of the underlying dependencies (in which case you have to try to see if the other libraries that rely on the conflicting module/dependency are able to work with the newer version (by excluding the older version of the module/dependecy under those libraries's entries)).

In my case, I got this error when there are 2 or more libraries conflict (same library but different versions). Check your app build.gradle in dependencies block.

There are two alternatives that'll work for sure:
Clean your project and then build.
If the above method didn't worked, try the next.
Add the following to build.gradle file at app level
defaultConfig {
multiDexEnabled true
}

Updating my Java SDK to the latest version 1.7.0_79 and updating the SDK Location under Project Structure solved the problem for me.

My problem was that apart from having
com.android.build.api.transform.TransformException:
com.android.ide.common.process.ProcessException:
org.gradle.process.internal.ExecException: Process 'command
'/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.X.X_XX.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/java''
finished with non-zero exit value 2
I had this trace as well:
Uncaught translation error: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException:
already added: Lcom/mypackage/ClassX;
The problem was that I was adding the same class in two differents libraries. Removing the class/jar file from one of the libraries, the project run properly

For me i was adding the whole playstore dependencies
compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:8.4.0'
But i needed google map only , so i made it more specific and the error was resolved.
compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-maps:8.4.0'

in my case problem was build tools version which was 23.0.0 rc3 and i changed to 22.0.1 and my problem fixed.

You may be using a low quality cable/defected cable to connect your device to the PC, I replaced the cable and it worked for me.

This error is because of using more number of libraries.in my case 'compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-9.4.0' caused this error.To avoid this error use necessary libraries.for example if you want to use Maps in your app.Then use
compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-maps:9.4.0'.while adding google play services dependency specify the needed libraries only.by default it includes all the libraries.

In Your gradle.build file, Use this
"compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])"
And it works fine.

If you want to see what exactly is causing the error, try building your project via gradle terminal, like this ./gradlew assembleDebug --stacktrace --debug . I've seen the following error in my case com.android.dex.DexIndexOverflowException: method ID not in [0, 0xffff]: 65536
This happened when I was trying to entegrate Google Maps to my project. To fix it, I simply checked libraries I was including
compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:9.8.0'
I simply changed it to
compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-maps:9.8.0'
and problem was gone

I had the same error after converting my project to Kotlin. My problem was that my jre location was changed to an invalid path during the process (I wonder why this could happen... made me waste time). Fixed it by doing this:
File > Project Structure > SDK Location
Unchecked the Use embedded JDK option, which was pointing to an old JDK installation, and selected the correct one:
/home/my_user/jdk1.8.0_101
After changing this, the error disappeared

WORKED FOR ME :)
i upgraded the java to the latest version 8 previously it was 7 and then go to OPEN MODULE SETTING right clicking on project and changed the jdk path to /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle the new java 8 installed. And restart the studio
check in /usr/lib/jvm for java 8 folder name
I am using ubuntu

Android Studio: Multiple dex files define Lcom/sun/activation/registries/LineTokenizer;

Receiving this exception whilst trying to build my project. Have searched around for an answer but most cases seem to be different to mine.
Other solutions include clearing temporary files or doing a gradle clean. This does temporarily solve the issue but it reappears again after a few builds. Another way this issue can occur is if the project contains multiple copies of a library. I have searched through my project and only have one instance of activation.jar which is in my libs directory. Most other solutions seem to involve changing the build path in Eclipse, but my problem is occurring on Android Studio 0.5.8. I am using Java 1.7.
Gradle Console
UNEXPECTED TOP-LEVEL EXCEPTION: com.android.dex.DexException:
Multiple dex files define
Lcom/sun/activation/registries/LineTokenizer;
at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.readSortableTypes(DexMerger.java:594)
at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.getSortedTypes(DexMerger.java:552)
at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.mergeClassDefs(DexMerger.java:533)
at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.mergeDexes(DexMerger.java:170)
at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.merge(DexMerger.java:188)
at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.mergeLibraryDexBuffers(Main.java:439)
at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.runMonoDex(Main.java:287)
at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.run(Main.java:230)
at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.main(Main.java:199)
at com.android.dx.command.Main.main(Main.java:103)
Libraries in libs dir:
activation.jar
additionnal.jar
androidplot-core-0.5.1.jar
annotations.jar
DatawindAdsSdk-2.0.jar
jpct_ae.jar
jsr305-1.3.9.jar
libGoogleAnalyticsV2.jar
mail.jar
twitter4j-core-3.0.5.jar
Dependencies: Note - ":android-cropimage" does not have any dependencies in build.gradle
Main module:
dependencies {
//Library Projects
compile project(':android-cropimage')
compile project(':facebook')
//Android SDK Libraries
//This library requires "Google Play Services" and "Google Repository" to be downloaded via SDK Manager.
compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:4.4.52'
//Third Party
compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: '*.jar')
compile 'com.github.chrisbanes.actionbarpulltorefresh:extra-abs:+'
compile 'com.jakewharton:butterknife:4.0.1'
compile 'com.j256.ormlite:ormlite-core:4.46'
compile 'com.j256.ormlite:ormlite-android:4.46'
compile 'net.hockeyapp.android:HockeySDK:3.0.1'
compile 'org.apache.httpcomponents:httpmime:4.2.5'
compile 'com.viewpagerindicator:library:2.4.1#aar'
compile 'com.squareup.picasso:picasso:2.2.0'
compile 'com.mcxiaoke.volley:library:1.0.+'
compile 'org.msgpack:msgpack:0.6.11'
}
Facebook module:
dependencies {
compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:19.1.0'
}

Turns out this is due to a bug with the Android Gradle plugin's incremental dex option on version 0.10.2 (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/adt-dev/6KbhReCE_fo). Removing the following from my build.gradle file solved the issue:
android {
dexOptions {
incremental true
}
}

As #Marepork anwered there is a bug withing gradle that has not been fixed
If you still want to use incremental build you can always use build variants and fordebug use multidex and for release a proguard

Android Studio: Gradle - build fails -- Execution failed for task ':dexDebug'

Error:
Gradle: Execution failed for task ':vertretungsplan:dexDebug'.
> Failed to run command:
P:\Android-Studio\sdk\build-tools\18.0.1\dx.bat --dex --output P:\Projekte\VertretungsplanProject\vertretungsplan\build\libs\vertretungsplan-debug.dex P:\Projekte\VertretungsplanProject\vertretungsplan\build\classes\debug P:\Projekte\VertretungsplanProject\vertretungsplan\build\dependency-cache\debug P:\Android-Studio\sdk\extras\android\m2repository\com\android\support\support-v4\18.0.0\support-v4-18.0.0.jar P:\Projekte\VertretungsplanProject\vertretungsplan\libs\commons-io-2.4.jar P:\Projekte\VertretungsplanProject\vertretungsplan\build\exploded-bundles\VertretungsplanProjectLibrariesActionbarsherlockUnspecified.aar\classes.jar
Error Code:
2
Output:
trouble processing:
bad class file magic (cafebabe) or version (0033.0000)
...while parsing de/MayerhoferSimon/Vertretungsplan/LoginActivity$2.class
...while processing de/MayerhoferSimon/Vertretungsplan/LoginActivity$2.class
trouble processing:
bad class file magic (cafebabe) or version (0033.0000)
...while parsing de/MayerhoferSimon/Vertretungsplan/MainActivity$1.class
...while processing de/MayerhoferSimon/Vertretungsplan/MainActivity$1.class
trouble processing:
bad class file magic (cafebabe) or version (0033.0000)
...while parsing de/MayerhoferSimon/Vertretungsplan/YQL/YqlVplanParser.class
...while processing de/MayerhoferSimon/Vertretungsplan/YQL/YqlVplanParser.class
3 warnings
UNEXPECTED TOP-LEVEL EXCEPTION:
com.android.dx.util.DexException: Multiple dex files define Landroid/support/v4/accessibilityservice/AccessibilityServiceInfoCompat$AccessibilityServiceInfoVersionImpl;
at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.readSortableTypes(DexMerger.java:592)
at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.getSortedTypes(DexMerger.java:550)
at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.mergeClassDefs(DexMerger.java:531)
at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.mergeDexBuffers(DexMerger.java:168)
at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.merge(DexMerger.java:186)
at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.mergeLibraryDexBuffers(Main.java:300)
at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.run(Main.java:232)
at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.main(Main.java:174)
at com.android.dx.command.Main.main(Main.java:91)
Project structure:
build.gradle (actionbarsherlock)
buildscript {
repositories {
mavenCentral()
}
dependencies {
classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:0.5.+'
}
}
apply plugin: 'android-library'
dependencies {
compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:18.0.0'
}
android {
compileSdkVersion 18
buildToolsVersion "18.0.1"
defaultConfig {
minSdkVersion 8
targetSdkVersion 11
}
sourceSets {
main {
manifest.srcFile 'AndroidManifest.xml'
java.srcDirs = ['src']
resources.srcDirs = ['src']
res.srcDirs = ['res']
}
}
}
build.gradle (vertretungsplan)
buildscript {
repositories {
mavenCentral()
}
dependencies {
classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:0.5.+'
}
}
apply plugin: 'android'
dependencies {
compile files('libs/commons-io-2.4.jar')
compile project(':libraries:actionbarsherlock')
}
android {
compileSdkVersion 18
buildToolsVersion "18.0.1"
defaultConfig {
minSdkVersion 8
targetSdkVersion 11
}
}
settings.gradle
include ':vertretungsplan', ':libraries:actionbarsherlock'
How can I fix this error?

The right answer is, that some of your jar files does not compile.
You should go into your build.gradle file in your project, and look in your dependencies.
If you're just importing some jar files, you could try to remove them and add them one at a time. This will help you determine which one of them causes the error.
In my case, I did just that, and when I was importing the last one, the app compiled. So I think the real problem was that I was importing too many at once. But now it all works.

I suddenly had the same problem, after no noteworthy changes.
I solved it by deleting the app/build directory and let gradle build the whole project new.

You must check if the same JAR is being imported again. In my case there was a class inside a jar which was getting imported in another jar. So just check if the any lib / class file is being included twice in the whole project!

I got the same sort of error when I tried to compile a utils library jar in eclipse using Java JRE 1.8, and use it in my /libs/ in Android Studio 1.1.0.
I had my Android Studio set to use JDK1.8.0.
I switched my Eclipse to work with JRE 1.7, and the error was fixed.
Eclipse: Window->Preferences->Java tab->Compiler -> Compliance level 1.7. It will most likely prompt you to switch your JRE System Library to jdk1.7.x_x.
You may need to make sure to uncheck 'compress jar' when you export. I haven't tested whether it had an effect or not. I doubt it was related.

I had the same problem too.
In my case the problem started after a reboot.
I closed my App, then I closed the Android Studio (In my case V1.1.0), and finally a normal shutdown. After that, I modified one java file to add a RadioGroup object and then the problem appeared.
I solved my problem only changing a simple '0' for a '1' in my Gradle configuration file, because the root cause of the problem was generated at the Gradle execution process. Previously I used to have version '1.0.0' then i changed it to '1.1.0', as stated in the pictures.
Location of the Gradle configuration a changed
Location where I took the right version from (File -> Settings -> Gradle -> Experimental

The problem is NOT about Execution failed for task ':dexDebug'
if you look above the error showed in red you are going to see this
To solve this problem permanently just add these lines in your build.gradle file
android {
dexOptions {
jumboMode = true
}
}
For further details check this question: here

Make sure your AndroidManifest file contains a package name in the manifest node.
Setting a package name fixed this problem for me.

ANDROID STUDIO Users try this:-
You need to add the following to your gradle file dependencies:
compile 'com.android.support:multidex:1.0.0'
And then add below line ( multidex support application ) to your manifest's application tag:
android:name="android.support.multidex.MultiDexApplication"

Could fix this by adding
compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:18.0.0'
to the dependencies in the vertretungsplan build.gradle, compile and then remove this line and compile again.
now it works

I had the same problem, you should do:
File -> Invalidate Caches / Restart

I had this problem because I tried to use both support library and appcompat:
dependencies {
compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: '*.jar')
compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:23.1.0'
compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:23.1.1'
compile 'com.android.support:design:23.1.1'
compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:8.3.0'
}
After I deleted support library and changed to older version, it compiled:
dependencies {
compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: '*.jar')
/*compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:23.1.1'
compile 'com.android.support:design:23.1.1'*/
compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:22.2.0'
compile 'com.android.support:design:22.2.0'
compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:8.3.0'
}

I had two incompatible dependencies.
The below dependencies caused the error.
compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-fitness:8.3.0'
compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-wearable:8.4.0'
By changing the fitness dependency to version 8.4.0 I was able to run the app.
compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-fitness:8.4.0'
compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-wearable:8.4.0'

I found a very interesting issue with Android Studio and the mircrosoft upgrade to the web browser. I upgraded "stupidly" to the latest version of ie. of course Microsoft in their infinite wisdom knows exactly what to do with security. When I tried to compile my app I kept getting the error Gradle - build fails -- Execution failed for task. looking in the stack I saw that it did not recognize the path to java.exe. I found that odd as I was just able to compile the day before. I added JAVA_HOME to the env vars for the system, closed Android Studio and reopened it. Low and behold if the fire wall nag screen did not pop asking if I wanted to all jave.exe through.
What a cluster!

(This might be the wrong thread, as your problem seems more specific, but it's the thread that I found when searching for the issue's keywords)
Despite all good hints, the only thing that helped me, and that I'd like to share just in case, if everything else does not work :
Remove your .gradle directory in your home directory and have it re-build/re-downloaded for you by Android Studio.
Fixed all kinds of weird errors for me that neither were fixable by re-installing Android Studio itself nor the SDK.

A reason can be duplicated libraries after importing from Eclipse IDE.
dependencies {
compile 'com.github.japgolly.android:svg-android:2.0.5'
compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:+'
compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:21.0.3'
compile files('libs/androidannotations-api-2.7.1.jar')
compile files('libs/androidasync-2.1.2.jar')
//compile files('libs/google-play-services.jar')
compile files('libs/universal-image-loader-1.8.2.jar')}
I had the same problem, after comment:
//compile files('libs/google-play-services.jar')
The app get no errors.

I faced the same issue .Resolved by doing this .
Go to actionbarsherlock -> module settings ->dependencies .Remove the support v4 library .In bottom left there is a plus button , from there add 1 Library Dependency (Select support-v4) .
Let the gradle resync and clean project once done .

Many of the answers here are trial and error to find duplicate dependencies but if you scroll up just a little bit from the Execution failed for task ':app:dexDebug'. line it will give you a hint at the duplications
.
In my case I had the following error:
UNEXPECTED TOP-LEVEL EXCEPTION:
com.android.dex.DexException: Multiple dex files define L/com/parse/AbstractQueryController$1;
...
...
...
Execution failed for task ':app:dexDebug'.
So I knew that in order to fix this bug I needed to find the duplicate dependencies that define parse.AbstractQueryController
In my case I had two imported modules that were loading in two different Parse libraries. Making my project only load one fixed my issue.

I have also ran into this error when the package in one of my class files was incorrectly spelled. Many of these answers immediately jump to the Jar files but I would also check to make sure your packages are spelled correctly.

just add in build.gradle
compile 'com.parse.bolts:bolts-android:1.+'
compile 'com.parse:parse-android:1.11.0'
and sync Project with Gradle Files
But Don't Add The parse Jar in libs :) OKK

If you are also using Dagger or Butterknife you should to add guava as a dependency to your build.gradle main file like classpath :
com.google.guava:guava:20.0
In other hand, if you are having problems with larger heap for the Gradle daemon you can increase adding to your radle file:
dexOptions {
javaMaxHeapSize "4g"
}

In my case, I did Build > Clean Project and it worked!

Cleaning the Project using Build in Menu Bar work for many error scenarios in Android Studio and so it does in this case.