Salvadori's Nightjar has dark plumage and a short tail. It is active at night in forests of Sumatra and Java, catching insects in flight; the wing patch differs between the sexes.
It is dark overall with a short tail. The wing patch is white in males and buff in females.
It is active at night, using forest understory and open places such as roads or clearings, where it catches flying insects.
In Java, breeding occurs from late March to May. The clutch is one or two eggs, and one nesting site was found beneath a tea bush.
Males have small white marks on the second to fifth outermost primaries and white tips to the two outer tail pairs. Females have tawny wing marks and white or buff outer tail tips.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.