The typical adult male Asian Paradise-flycatcher is about 20 cm long, but the long tail streamers double this.
It has a glossy black crown and crest, blue eye-ring and a long narrow rounded tail. The body and wings are white with very long central pair of tail feathers which form streamers that droop. The Females are much like the sub-adult males or rufous-morphs but the throat is greyish and not black and they lack streamers. The Asian Paradise-flycatcher is a noisy bird with a sharp skreek call.
It has short legs and sits very upright whilst perched prominently, like a shrike. It is insectivorous, hunting by flycatching in the understory. They bathe in small pools of water in the afternoon by diving from perches.