This bulbul occurs in the Sundaic lowlands. BirdLife lists the same scientific taxon as the Buff-vented Bulbul. A 2017 paper describes it as slightly larger, with a longer, heavier bill and paler undertail coverts than Indochinese Iole taxa.
A 2017 paper recounts descriptions of this Sunda taxon as slightly larger, with a slightly longer, heavier bill and paler undertail coverts than Indochinese Iole taxa. A Malaysian field guide notes that the adult has pale eyes.
It inhabits broadleaved evergreen forest in lowlands and hills, up to about 1,100 m. It also occurs in logged and secondary forest, overgrown plantations and peat-swamp forest, and is often encountered at forest edges or light gaps.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.