Since the consecutive discovery of several gas fields from 2004 to present, the Rakhine Basin has been an active area for petroleum exploration in the Bay of Bengal. High-resolution 3D seismic data and well data from blocks AD1, AD6 and AD8 offshore northwest Myanmar are used to study the Miocene–Pleistocene depositional architecture and sedimentary evolution in the Rakhine Basin. Analysis of seismic facies and seismic attributes indicates that deep-water architectural elements include submarine canyons, confined slope channel complex systems, aggradational channel–levee complexes, isolated channels, frontal splays and mass-transport complexes, which have variable characters (shape, dimension, sedimentary architecture) within predominantly background deep-water slope-basin floor facies. Most of the sediments are interpreted to be sourced from the Ganges–Brahmaputra fluvio-deltaic system to the north with only minor lateral input from the Indo-Myanmar Ranges to the east. Investigation of the depositional evolution and architectural elements transformation during the filling history of the Rakhine Basin suggests the Rakhine Basin experienced rapid progradation during the Oligocene–Middle/Upper Miocene, gradual retrogradation during the Middle/Upper Miocene–Early Pliocene and gradual progradation during the Early Pliocene–Pleistocene. Published exploration results indicate that the main reservoirs of the discoveries in blocks A1 and A3 are Pliocene frontal splays and channel–levee fills, dominated by fine and very fine-grained sandstones, in structural and structural–stratigraphic traps. Analytic results from seismic characters and several exploration wells indicate that channel complexes and associated overbanks and frontal splays with fine-grained sandstones and siltstones trapped by the four-way closures are primary reservoir targets.