diff --git a/tools/releasetools/common.py b/tools/releasetools/common.py
index 34c13596c..632c1e2c2 100644
--- a/tools/releasetools/common.py
+++ b/tools/releasetools/common.py
@@ -1008,7 +1008,8 @@ def GetMinSdkVersionInt(apk_name, codename_to_api_level_map):
 
 
 def SignFile(input_name, output_name, key, password, min_api_level=None,
-             codename_to_api_level_map=None, whole_file=False):
+             codename_to_api_level_map=None, whole_file=False,
+             extra_signapk_args=None):
   """Sign the input_name zip/jar/apk, producing output_name.  Use the
   given key and password (the latter may be None if the key does not
   have a password.
@@ -1023,9 +1024,14 @@ def SignFile(input_name, output_name, key, password, min_api_level=None,
 
   codename_to_api_level_map is needed to translate the codename which may be
   encountered as the APK's minSdkVersion.
+
+  Caller may optionally specify extra args to be passed to SignApk, which
+  defaults to OPTIONS.extra_signapk_args if omitted.
   """
   if codename_to_api_level_map is None:
     codename_to_api_level_map = {}
+  if extra_signapk_args is None:
+    extra_signapk_args = OPTIONS.extra_signapk_args
 
   java_library_path = os.path.join(
       OPTIONS.search_path, OPTIONS.signapk_shared_library_path)
@@ -1033,7 +1039,7 @@ def SignFile(input_name, output_name, key, password, min_api_level=None,
   cmd = ([OPTIONS.java_path] + OPTIONS.java_args +
          ["-Djava.library.path=" + java_library_path,
           "-jar", os.path.join(OPTIONS.search_path, OPTIONS.signapk_path)] +
-         OPTIONS.extra_signapk_args)
+         extra_signapk_args)
   if whole_file:
     cmd.append("-w")
 
diff --git a/tools/releasetools/sign_target_files_apks.py b/tools/releasetools/sign_target_files_apks.py
index 2a5cd4abf..16c184018 100755
--- a/tools/releasetools/sign_target_files_apks.py
+++ b/tools/releasetools/sign_target_files_apks.py
@@ -400,7 +400,6 @@ def SignApex(apex_data, payload_key, container_key, container_pw,
 
   APEX_PAYLOAD_IMAGE = 'apex_payload.img'
 
-  # Signing an APEX is a two step process.
   # 1. Extract and sign the APEX_PAYLOAD_IMAGE entry with the given payload_key.
   payload_dir = common.MakeTempDir(prefix='apex-payload-')
   with zipfile.ZipFile(apex_file) as apex_fd:
@@ -420,21 +419,28 @@ def SignApex(apex_data, payload_key, container_key, container_pw,
   common.ZipWrite(apex_zip, payload_file, arcname=APEX_PAYLOAD_IMAGE)
   common.ZipClose(apex_zip)
 
-  # 2. Sign the overall APEX container with container_key.
+  # 2. Align the files at page boundary (same as in apexer).
+  aligned_apex = common.MakeTempFile(
+      prefix='apex-container-', suffix='.apex')
+  common.RunAndCheckOutput(
+      ['zipalign', '-f', '4096', apex_file, aligned_apex])
+
+  # 3. Sign the APEX container with container_key.
   signed_apex = common.MakeTempFile(prefix='apex-container-', suffix='.apex')
+
+  # Specify the 4K alignment when calling SignApk.
+  extra_signapk_args = OPTIONS.extra_signapk_args[:]
+  extra_signapk_args.extend(['-a', '4096'])
+
   common.SignFile(
-      apex_file,
+      aligned_apex,
       signed_apex,
       container_key,
       container_pw,
-      codename_to_api_level_map=codename_to_api_level_map)
+      codename_to_api_level_map=codename_to_api_level_map,
+      extra_signapk_args=extra_signapk_args)
 
-  signed_and_aligned_apex = common.MakeTempFile(
-      prefix='apex-container-', suffix='.apex')
-  common.RunAndCheckOutput(
-      ['zipalign', '-f', '4096', signed_apex, signed_and_aligned_apex])
-
-  return (signed_and_aligned_apex, payload_info['apex.key'])
+  return (signed_apex, payload_info['apex.key'])
 
 
 def ProcessTargetFiles(input_tf_zip, output_tf_zip, misc_info,