diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/com/google/firebase/gradle/plugins/publish/Publisher.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/com/google/firebase/gradle/plugins/publish/Publisher.groovy
index 7d05bd8c686..c2b6861a557 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/com/google/firebase/gradle/plugins/publish/Publisher.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/com/google/firebase/gradle/plugins/publish/Publisher.groovy
@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@ package com.google.firebase.gradle.plugins.publish
 
 import org.gradle.api.GradleException
 import org.gradle.api.Project
+import org.gradle.api.artifacts.Configuration
+import org.gradle.api.artifacts.Dependency
+import org.gradle.api.artifacts.ProjectDependency
 import org.gradle.api.publish.maven.MavenPublication
 
 /** Handles publication versioning and pom validation upon release. */
@@ -26,7 +29,7 @@ class Publisher {
         SNAPSHOT
     }
     private final Mode mode;
-    private final Set<Project> projectsToPublish;
+    private final Set<Project> projectsToPublish
 
     Publisher(Mode mode, Set<Project> projectsToPublish) {
         this.mode = mode
@@ -37,6 +40,7 @@ class Publisher {
         publication.pom.withXml {
             def rootNode = asNode()
             validatePomXml(project, rootNode)
+            processDependencies(project, rootNode)
         }
     }
 
@@ -51,7 +55,7 @@ class Publisher {
         return UNRELEASED_VERSION
     }
 
-    private void validatePomXml(Project p, Node pom) {
+    private static void validatePomXml(Project p, Node pom) {
         def unreleased = pom.dependencies.dependency.findAll { it.version.text() == UNRELEASED_VERSION }
                 .collect { "${it.groupId.text()}:${it.artifactId.text()}"}
         if(unreleased) {
@@ -63,4 +67,53 @@ class Publisher {
         return "${baseVersion}${mode == Mode.SNAPSHOT ? '-SNAPSHOT' : ''}"
     }
 
+    private static void processDependencies(Project project, Node pom) {
+        def deps = getDependencyTypes(project)
+
+        pom.dependencies.dependency.each {
+            // remove multidex as it is supposed to be added by final applications and is needed for
+            // some libraries only for instrumentation tests to build.
+            if (it.groupId.text() in ['com.android.support', 'androidx'] && it.artifactId.text() == 'multidex') {
+                it.parent().remove(it)
+            }
+            it.appendNode('type', [:], deps["${it.groupId.text()}:${it.artifactId.text()}"])
+
+            // change scope to compile to preserve existing behavior
+            it.scope.replaceNode {
+                createNode('scope', 'compile')
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static Map<String, String> getDependencyTypes(Project project) {
+        def dummyDependencyConfiguration = project.configurations.create('publisherDummyConfig')
+        def nonProjectDependencies = project.configurations.releaseRuntimeClasspath.allDependencies.findAll {
+            !(it instanceof ProjectDependency)
+        }
+        dummyDependencyConfiguration.dependencies.addAll(nonProjectDependencies)
+        try {
+            return project.configurations.releaseRuntimeClasspath.getAllDependencies().collectEntries {
+                [("$it.group:$it.name" as String): getType(dummyDependencyConfiguration, it)]
+            }
+        } finally {
+            project.configurations.remove(dummyDependencyConfiguration)
+        }
+
+    }
+
+    private static String getType(Configuration config, Dependency d) {
+        if (d instanceof ProjectDependency) {
+            // we currently only support aar libraries to be produced in this repository
+            return 'aar'
+        }
+        String path = config.find {
+            it.absolutePath.matches(".*\\Q$d.group/$d.name/$d.version/\\E[a-zA-Z0-9]+/\\Q$d.name-$d.version.\\E[aj]ar")
+        }?.absolutePath
+        if (path && path.endsWith (".aar")) {
+            return "aar"
+        } else {
+            return "jar"
+        }
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/test/groovy/com/google/firebase/gradle/plugins/publish/PublishingPluginSpec.groovy b/buildSrc/src/test/groovy/com/google/firebase/gradle/plugins/publish/PublishingPluginSpec.groovy
index 1fff2ee2199..318b63accb1 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/test/groovy/com/google/firebase/gradle/plugins/publish/PublishingPluginSpec.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/test/groovy/com/google/firebase/gradle/plugins/publish/PublishingPluginSpec.groovy
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ class PublishingPluginSpec extends Specification {
 	    }
         dependencies {
             <%dependencies.each { println "implementation project(':$it.name')" } %>
+            <%externalDependencies.each { println "implementation '$it'" } %>
         }
         '''
         String name
@@ -51,6 +52,7 @@ class PublishingPluginSpec extends Specification {
         String version = 'undefined'
         String latestReleasedVersion = ''
         Set<Project> projectDependencies = []
+        Set<String> externalDependencies = []
         Project releaseWith = null
         String customizePom = null
 
@@ -60,6 +62,7 @@ class PublishingPluginSpec extends Specification {
                     group: group,
                     version: version,
                     dependencies: projectDependencies,
+                    externalDependencies: externalDependencies,
                     releaseWith: releaseWith,
                     latestReleasedVersion: latestReleasedVersion,
                     customizePom: customizePom,
@@ -253,6 +256,42 @@ licenses {
         dependency.version == project1.version
     }
 
+    def "Publish project should correctly set dependency types"() {
+        Project project1 = new Project(name: 'childProject1', version: '1.0', latestReleasedVersion: '0.8')
+        Project project2 = new Project(
+                name: 'childProject2',
+                version: '0.9',
+                projectDependencies: [project1],
+                externalDependencies: [
+                        'com.google.dagger:dagger:2.22',
+                        'com.google.dagger:dagger-android-support:2.22',
+                        'com.android.support:multidex:1.0.3'
+                ])
+
+        when: "publishFirebase invoked"
+        subprojectsDefined(project1, project2)
+        def result = publish(Mode.RELEASE, project2)
+        then: 'poms exist'
+        def pom1 = project1.getPublishedPom("$testProjectDir.root/build/m2repository")
+        def pom2 = project2.getPublishedPom("$testProjectDir.root/build/m2repository")
+        assert !pom1.isPresent()
+        assert pom2.isPresent()
+
+        and: 'versions and dependency types are valid'
+
+        def xml2 = new XmlSlurper().parseText(pom2.get().text)
+        xml2.version == project2.version
+        def dependencies = xml2.dependencies.dependency.collect {
+            "${it.groupId.text()}:${it.artifactId.text()}:${it.version.text()}:${it.type.text()}:${it.scope.text()}"
+        } as Set<String>
+        dependencies == [
+                "$project1.group:$project1.name:$project1.latestReleasedVersion:aar:compile",
+                'com.google.dagger:dagger:2.22:jar:compile',
+                'com.google.dagger:dagger-android-support:2.22:aar:compile'
+        ] as Set<String>
+
+    }
+
     private BuildResult build(String... args) {
         GradleRunner.create()
                 .withProjectDir(testProjectDir.root)