diff --git a/tools/aapt2/cmd/Link.cpp b/tools/aapt2/cmd/Link.cpp
index 97e02f9698019..b86188fa85032 100644
--- a/tools/aapt2/cmd/Link.cpp
+++ b/tools/aapt2/cmd/Link.cpp
@@ -1873,7 +1873,8 @@ int Link(const std::vector<StringPiece>& args) {
                             &options.extensions_to_not_compress)
           .OptionalFlagList("--split",
                             "Split resources matching a set of configs out to a Split APK.\n"
-                            "Syntax: path/to/output.apk:<config>[,<config>[...]].",
+                            "Syntax: path/to/output.apk:<config>[,<config>[...]].\n"
+                            "On Windows, use a semicolon ';' separator instead.",
                             &split_args)
           .OptionalSwitch("-v", "Enables verbose logging.", &verbose);
 
diff --git a/tools/aapt2/cmd/Optimize.cpp b/tools/aapt2/cmd/Optimize.cpp
index 8f8e0c8e4f6d1..e99ee8aa93c20 100644
--- a/tools/aapt2/cmd/Optimize.cpp
+++ b/tools/aapt2/cmd/Optimize.cpp
@@ -302,7 +302,8 @@ int Optimize(const std::vector<StringPiece>& args) {
                             &configs)
           .OptionalFlagList("--split",
                             "Split resources matching a set of configs out to a "
-                            "Split APK.\nSyntax: path/to/output.apk:<config>[,<config>[...]].",
+                            "Split APK.\nSyntax: path/to/output.apk;<config>[,<config>[...]].\n"
+                            "On Windows, use a semicolon ';' separator instead.",
                             &split_args)
           .OptionalSwitch("--enable-sparse-encoding",
                           "Enables encoding sparse entries using a binary search tree.\n"
diff --git a/tools/aapt2/cmd/Util.cpp b/tools/aapt2/cmd/Util.cpp
index fd94bbc0a1c30..14d426061e561 100644
--- a/tools/aapt2/cmd/Util.cpp
+++ b/tools/aapt2/cmd/Util.cpp
@@ -57,10 +57,17 @@ bool ParseSplitParameter(const StringPiece& arg, IDiagnostics* diag, std::string
   CHECK(out_path != nullptr);
   CHECK(out_split != nullptr);
 
-  std::vector<std::string> parts = util::Split(arg, ':');
+#ifdef _WIN32
+  const char sSeparator = ';';
+#else
+  const char sSeparator = ':';
+#endif
+
+  std::vector<std::string> parts = util::Split(arg, sSeparator);
   if (parts.size() != 2) {
     diag->Error(DiagMessage() << "invalid split parameter '" << arg << "'");
-    diag->Note(DiagMessage() << "should be --split path/to/output.apk:<config>[,<config>...]");
+    diag->Note(DiagMessage() << "should be --split path/to/output.apk" << sSeparator
+                             << "<config>[,<config>...].");
     return false;
   }