diff --git a/brut.apktool/apktool-cli/src/main/java/brut/apktool/Main.java b/brut.apktool/apktool-cli/src/main/java/brut/apktool/Main.java
index 1bd5f7b5..88d27aa2 100644
--- a/brut.apktool/apktool-cli/src/main/java/brut/apktool/Main.java
+++ b/brut.apktool/apktool-cli/src/main/java/brut/apktool/Main.java
@@ -230,6 +230,9 @@ public class Main {
         if (cli.hasOption("use-aapt2")) {
             apkOptions.useAapt2 = true;
         }
+        if (cli.hasOption("api") || cli.hasOption("api-level")) {
+            apkOptions.forceApi = Integer.parseInt(cli.getOptionValue("api"));
+        }
         if (cli.hasOption("o") || cli.hasOption("output")) {
             outFile = new File(cli.getOptionValue("o"));
         } else {
diff --git a/brut.apktool/apktool-lib/src/main/java/brut/androlib/Androlib.java b/brut.apktool/apktool-lib/src/main/java/brut/androlib/Androlib.java
index ae52459b..c2499924 100644
--- a/brut.apktool/apktool-lib/src/main/java/brut/androlib/Androlib.java
+++ b/brut.apktool/apktool-lib/src/main/java/brut/androlib/Androlib.java
@@ -416,7 +416,7 @@ public class Androlib {
         if (apkOptions.forceBuildAll || isModified(smaliDir, dex)) {
             LOGGER.info("Smaling " + folder + " folder into " + filename + "...");
             dex.delete();
-            SmaliBuilder.build(smaliDir, dex, mMinSdkVersion);
+            SmaliBuilder.build(smaliDir, dex, apkOptions.forceApi > 0 ? apkOptions.forceApi : mMinSdkVersion);
         }
         return true;
     }
diff --git a/brut.apktool/apktool-lib/src/main/java/brut/androlib/ApkOptions.java b/brut.apktool/apktool-lib/src/main/java/brut/androlib/ApkOptions.java
index b1ddb4a2..9fff0bd2 100644
--- a/brut.apktool/apktool-lib/src/main/java/brut/androlib/ApkOptions.java
+++ b/brut.apktool/apktool-lib/src/main/java/brut/androlib/ApkOptions.java
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ public class ApkOptions {
     public boolean resourcesAreCompressed = false;
     public boolean useAapt2 = false;
     public boolean noCrunch = false;
+    public int forceApi = 0;
     public Collection<String> doNotCompress;
 
     public String frameworkFolderLocation = null;
diff --git a/brut.apktool/apktool-lib/src/main/java/brut/androlib/mod/SmaliMod.java b/brut.apktool/apktool-lib/src/main/java/brut/androlib/mod/SmaliMod.java
index 6af075fc..8f9988bf 100644
--- a/brut.apktool/apktool-lib/src/main/java/brut/androlib/mod/SmaliMod.java
+++ b/brut.apktool/apktool-lib/src/main/java/brut/androlib/mod/SmaliMod.java
@@ -29,14 +29,14 @@ import org.jf.smali.*;
  */
 public class SmaliMod {
 
-    public static boolean assembleSmaliFile(String smali, DexBuilder dexBuilder, boolean verboseErrors,
+    public static boolean assembleSmaliFile(String smali, DexBuilder dexBuilder, int apiLevel, boolean verboseErrors,
                                             boolean printTokens, File smaliFile) throws IOException, RuntimeException, RecognitionException {
 
         InputStream is = new ByteArrayInputStream(smali.getBytes());
-        return assembleSmaliFile(is, dexBuilder, verboseErrors, printTokens, smaliFile);
+        return assembleSmaliFile(is, dexBuilder, apiLevel, verboseErrors, printTokens, smaliFile);
     }
 
-    public static boolean assembleSmaliFile(InputStream is,DexBuilder dexBuilder, boolean verboseErrors,
+    public static boolean assembleSmaliFile(InputStream is,DexBuilder dexBuilder, int apiLevel, boolean verboseErrors,
                                             boolean printTokens, File smaliFile) throws IOException, RecognitionException {
 
         // copy our filestream into a tmp file, so we don't overwrite
@@ -47,10 +47,10 @@ public class SmaliMod {
         IOUtils.copy(is, os);
         os.close();
 
-        return assembleSmaliFile(tmp,dexBuilder, verboseErrors, printTokens);
+        return assembleSmaliFile(tmp,dexBuilder, apiLevel, verboseErrors, printTokens);
     }
 
-    public static boolean assembleSmaliFile(File smaliFile,DexBuilder dexBuilder, boolean verboseErrors,
+    public static boolean assembleSmaliFile(File smaliFile,DexBuilder dexBuilder, int apiLevel, boolean verboseErrors,
                                             boolean printTokens) throws IOException, RecognitionException {
 
         CommonTokenStream tokens;
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ public class SmaliMod {
         }
 
         smaliParser parser = new smaliParser(tokens);
+        parser.setApiLevel(apiLevel);
         parser.setVerboseErrors(verboseErrors);
 
         smaliParser.smali_file_return result = parser.smali_file();
@@ -93,7 +94,7 @@ public class SmaliMod {
         treeStream.setTokenStream(tokens);
 
         smaliTreeWalker dexGen = new smaliTreeWalker(treeStream);
-
+        dexGen.setApiLevel(apiLevel);
         dexGen.setVerboseErrors(verboseErrors);
         dexGen.setDexBuilder(dexBuilder);
         dexGen.smali_file();
diff --git a/brut.apktool/apktool-lib/src/main/java/brut/androlib/src/SmaliBuilder.java b/brut.apktool/apktool-lib/src/main/java/brut/androlib/src/SmaliBuilder.java
index e61ba446..03c88db6 100644
--- a/brut.apktool/apktool-lib/src/main/java/brut/androlib/src/SmaliBuilder.java
+++ b/brut.apktool/apktool-lib/src/main/java/brut/androlib/src/SmaliBuilder.java
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ public class SmaliBuilder {
 
         if (fileName.endsWith(".smali")) {
             try {
-                if (!SmaliMod.assembleSmaliFile(inFile, dexBuilder, false, false)) {
+                if (!SmaliMod.assembleSmaliFile(inFile, dexBuilder, mApiLevel, false, false)) {
                     throw new AndrolibException("Could not smali file: " + fileName);
                 }
             } catch (IOException | RecognitionException ex) {