diff --git a/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/app/ApplicationAdminService.java b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/app/ApplicationAdminService.java
index 18babd5..e0ea6ec 100644
--- a/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/app/ApplicationAdminService.java
+++ b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/app/ApplicationAdminService.java
@@ -29,7 +29,9 @@
 
     /**
      * Installs the application contained in the specified application archive
-     * input stream.
+     * input stream. This can be either a ZIP stream containing a compressed
+     * application archive or a plain XML stream containing just the
+     * {@code app.xml} application descriptor file.
      *
      * @param appDescStream application descriptor input stream
      * @return installed application descriptor