The Yak-19 had an flattened oval-shaped, metal semi-monocoque fuselage with the single-seat cockpit and its teardrop-shaped canopy positioned just forward of the axial-flow RD-10F turbojet engine. Its air intake was in the nose and the afterburner was positioned at the rear of the fuselage, just below the tail structure. Fitted with tricycle landing gear, the main landing gear retracted inwards into the fuselage while the nose gear retracted forwards. The laminar-flow, two-spar, straight wing was mounted in the middle of the fuselage. It was equipped with modified Fowler flaps and Frise ailerons. The rudder was split into two sections by the horizontal stabilizers; the upper portion was fabric-covered while the lower half was metal-skinned. The pilot was protected by a bulletproof windscreen, a forward armor plate and an armored seat back. In addition, he was provided with an ejection seat. The Yak-19 was equipped with four fuel tanks in the fuselage that had a total capacity of of fuel. It was armed with two Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 autocannon, each with 70 rounds.