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Some apps use media stored on the phone (audiobooks, movies, epub, ..) Can adb backup backup the media too?

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Assuming those files you mention are stored in the shared storage that is also visible when the device is connected via USB to a PC, then yes adb can backup those files but by default it ignores them (by default option -noshared` is active).

Executing adb -shared will create the backup file backup.ab containing all the files that are stored within /sdcard respectively /storage/emulated/0 excluding the Android folder where app-specific files are located (tested on Android 9).

You can also just add the -shared option to an existing adb backup command.

BTW: You can still see the adb backup comand-line help with all available options which is no longer shown by recent adb versions by executing adb shell bu help:

 backup [-f FILE] [-apk|-noapk] [-obb|-noobb] [-shared|-noshared] [-all]
        [-system|-nosystem] [-keyvalue|-nokeyvalue] [PACKAGE...]
     write an archive of the device's data to FILE [default=backup.adb]
     package list optional if -all/-shared are supplied
     -apk/-noapk: do/don't back up .apk files (default -noapk)
     -obb/-noobb: do/don't back up .obb files (default -noobb)
     -shared|-noshared: do/don't back up shared storage (default -noshared)
     -all: back up all installed applications
     -system|-nosystem: include system apps in -all (default -system)
     -keyvalue|-nokeyvalue: include apps that perform key/value backups.
         (default -nokeyvalue)
 restore FILE             restore device contents from FILE

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