Adobe Flash (previously called Macromedia Flash) is a multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that utilizes a combination of different content format. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms.... platform
Platform (computing)
In computing, a platform describes some sort of hardware architecture or software framework , that allows Computer software to run. Typical platforms include a computer's Computer architecture, operating system, programming languages and related runtime libraries or graphical user interface.... created by Macromedia
Macromedia
Macromedia was a United States graphics and Web development software house headquartered in San Francisco, California producing such products as Adobe Flash.... and currently developed and distributed by Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an United States computer Computer software company headquartered in San Jose, California, USA. The company has historically focused upon the creation of multimedia and creativity software products, with a more-recent foray into rich Internet application software development.... . Since its introduction in 1996, Flash has become a popular method for adding animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of Motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways.... and interactivity
Interactivity
In the fields of information science, communication, and industrial design, there is debate over the meaning of Interactivity. In the "contingency view" of interactivity, there are three levels: Noninteractive, when a message is not related to previous messages; Reactive, when a message is related only to one immediately previous message; an... to web pages; Flash is commonly used to create animation, advertisements, and various web page components, to integrate video into web pages, and more recently, to develop rich Internet application
Rich Internet application
Rich Internet applications are web applications that have some of the characteristics of Application software, typically delivered by way of an Ajax framework, Proprietary software web browser Plug-in s, advanced javascript compiler technology, or independently via Sandbox es or virtual machines.... s.
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical Primitive s such as point s, line , curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based upon mathematical equations, to represent s in computer graphics.... and raster graphics
Raster graphics
In computer graphics, a raster graphics image or bitmap, is a data structure representing a generally Rectangle grid of pixels, or points of color, viewable via a Computer display, paper, or other display medium.... and supports bi-directional streaming of audio and video.
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Adobe Flash (previously called Macromedia Flash) is a multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that utilizes a combination of different content format. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms.... platform
Platform (computing)
In computing, a platform describes some sort of hardware architecture or software framework , that allows Computer software to run. Typical platforms include a computer's Computer architecture, operating system, programming languages and related runtime libraries or graphical user interface.... created by Macromedia
Macromedia
Macromedia was a United States graphics and Web development software house headquartered in San Francisco, California producing such products as Adobe Flash.... and currently developed and distributed by Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an United States computer Computer software company headquartered in San Jose, California, USA. The company has historically focused upon the creation of multimedia and creativity software products, with a more-recent foray into rich Internet application software development.... . Since its introduction in 1996, Flash has become a popular method for adding animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of Motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways.... and interactivity
Interactivity
In the fields of information science, communication, and industrial design, there is debate over the meaning of Interactivity. In the "contingency view" of interactivity, there are three levels: Noninteractive, when a message is not related to previous messages; Reactive, when a message is related only to one immediately previous message; an... to web pages; Flash is commonly used to create animation, advertisements, and various web page components, to integrate video into web pages, and more recently, to develop rich Internet application
Rich Internet application
Rich Internet applications are web applications that have some of the characteristics of Application software, typically delivered by way of an Ajax framework, Proprietary software web browser Plug-in s, advanced javascript compiler technology, or independently via Sandbox es or virtual machines.... s.
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical Primitive s such as point s, line , curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based upon mathematical equations, to represent s in computer graphics.... and raster graphics
Raster graphics
In computer graphics, a raster graphics image or bitmap, is a data structure representing a generally Rectangle grid of pixels, or points of color, viewable via a Computer display, paper, or other display medium.... and supports bi-directional streaming of audio and video. It contains a scripting language
Scripting language
A scripting language, script language or extension language, is a programming language that allows some control of a single or many Application software.... called ActionScript
ActionScript
ActionScript is a scripting language based on ECMAScript. ActionScript is used primarily for the development of websites and software using the Adobe Flash Player platform , but is also used in some database applications , and in basic robotics, as with the Make Controller Kit.... . Several software products, systems, and device
Information appliance
An information appliance is an appliance specializing in information, a personal device designed to perform a specific activity, such as playing music, photography, or editing text, in a simple and user-friendly way.... s are able to create or display Flash content, including Adobe Flash Player
Adobe Flash Player
The Adobe Flash Player is software for creating and viewing animations and movies using computer programs such as a web browser; in common usage, flash lets you put animation and movies on a web site.... , which is available for most common web browser
Web browser
A Web browser is a application software which enables a user to display and interact with text, images, videos, music, games and other information typically located on a Web page at a website on the World Wide Web or a local area network.... s, some mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a long-range, electronic device used for mobile voice or data communication over a network of specialized base stations known as cell sites.... s and other electronic devices (using Flash Lite
Flash Lite
Adobe Flash Lite is a lightweight version of Adobe Flash Player, a software application published by Adobe Systems. This version is intended for mobile phones and other non-phone, portable electronic devices like Chumby and iRiver, and allows users of these devices to view multimedia content and applications developed using Adobe's Flash tool... ). The Adobe Flash Professional multimedia authoring program is used to create content for the Adobe Engagement Platform
Adobe Engagement Platform
At Adobe MAX 2008, Adobe announced the new Flash Platform concept, and this has replaced the branding formerly known as Adobe Engagement Platform.In 2005, Adobe Systems bought Macromedia.... , such as web applications, games and movies, and content for mobile phones and other embedded devices.
The file formatSWF a partially open software repository for multimedia and especially for vector graphics, originated with FutureWave Software and has come under the control of Adobe Systems.... format, traditionally called "ShockWave Flash" movies, "Flash movies" or "Flash games", usually have a .swf file extension and may be an object of a web page, strictly "played" in a standalone
Standalone
A standalone entity is something that has no dependencies; it can "stand alone". Standalone may also refer to the following topics:*Standalone software is software that can be run without installation... Flash Player, or incorporated into a Projector, a self-executing Flash movie (with the .exe extension in Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces .... ). Flash Video (FLV) files have a .flv file extension and are either used from within .swf
SWF
The file formatSWF a partially open software repository for multimedia and especially for vector graphics, originated with FutureWave Software and has come under the control of Adobe Systems.... files or played through a flv aware player, such as VLC
VLC media player
VLC media player is an open source, free software media player written by the VideoLAN project.VLC is a portable multimedia player, encoder, and streamer supporting many audio and video codecs and file formats as well as DVDs, Video CD, and various streaming media Communications protocol.... , or QuickTime
QuickTime
QuickTime is a multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, media clips, sound, text, animation, music, and QuickTime VRs.... and Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player is a digital media media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing sound reproduction, video and viewing s on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices.... with external codec
Codec
A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoder and/or Decoding methods a digital data stream or signal . The word codec is a portmanteau of 'compressor-decompressor' or, most commonly, 'coder-decoder'.... s added.
History
The program Flash was the brainchild of Jonathan Gay
Jonathan Gay
Jonathan Gay is a computer programmer and software entrepreneur based in Northern California. Gay was a co-founder of FutureWave Software in 1993.... , who developed the idea while in college and extended it while working for Silicon Beach Software
Silicon Beach Software
Silicon Beach Software was an influential early developer of software for the Apple Macintosh personal computer. It was founded in San Diego, California by Charlie Jackson and his wife Hallie.... and its successors.
In January 1993, Jonathan Gay, Charlie Jackson, and Michelle Welsh started a small software company called FutureWave Software
FutureWave Software
FutureWave Software was a software developer and publisher based in San Diego, CA. The company was founded by Charlie Jackson and Jonathan Gay in early 1993.... and created their first product, SmartSketch. A drawing application for pen computers running the PenPoint OS
PenPoint OS
The PenPoint OS was a product of GO Corporation and was one of the earliest operating systems written specifically for graphical tablets and personal digital assistants.... , SmartSketch was designed to make creating computer graphics as simple as drawing on paper. When PenPoint failed in the marketplace, SmartSketch was ported to Microsoft Windows and MacOS. As the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global network of interconnected computers, enabling users to share information along multiple channels. Typically, a computer that connects to the Internet can access information from a vast array of available server and other computers by moving information from them to the computer's local memory.... began to thrive, however, FutureWave began to realize the potential for a vector
Vector
Vector may refer to:... -based web animation tool that might easily challenge Macromedia's Shockwave technology. In 1995, FutureWave modified SmartSketch by adding frame-by-frame animation features and re-released it as FutureSplash Animator
FutureSplash Animator
FutureSplash Animator was a software product for creating vector graphics-based animations, the predecessor of Adobe Flash. It was developed by FutureWave Software, a small software company whose first product, SmartSketch, was a vector-based drawing program for pen-based computers.... on Macintosh
Macintosh
File:Imac alu.pngMacintosh, commonly shortened to Mac, is a brand name which covers several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc.... and PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose original sales price, size, and capabilities make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator.... . By that time, the company had added a second programmer Robert Tatsumi, artist Adam Grofcsik, and PR specialist Ralph Mittman. Tatsumi focused on writing the authoring tool's user interface, while Gay wrote the graphics renderer, curve and shape math code and the browser plug-in. The product was offered to Adobe and used by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is a multinational corporation computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of computer software products for computing devices.... in its early work with the Internet (MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.... ). In December 1996, Macromedia acquired the vector-based animation software and later released it as Flash, contracting "Future" and "Splash" of the FutureWave name.
FutureSplash Animator was a software product for creating vector graphics-based animations, the predecessor of Adobe Flash. It was developed by FutureWave Software, a small software company whose first product, SmartSketch, was a vector-based drawing program for pen-based computers.... (April 10, 1996): initial version of Flash with basic editing tools and a timeline
Macromedia Flash 1 (November 1996): a Macromedia re-branded version of the FutureSplash Animator
Macromedia Flash 2 (June 1997): Released with Flash Player 2, new features included: the object library
Library (computer science)
In computer science, a library is a collection of subroutines or Class used to develop software. Libraries contain code and data that provide services to independent programs....
Macromedia Flash 3 (May 31, 1998): Released with Flash Player 3, new features included: the movieclip element, JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a scripting language widely used for client-side web development. It was the originating Programming language dialect of the ECMAScript standard.... plug-in integration, transparency
Transparency (graphic)
Transparency is possible in a number of graphics file formats. The term transparency is used in various ways by different people, but at its simplest there is "full transparency" i.e.... and an external stand alone player
Macromedia Flash 4 (June 15, 1999): Released with Flash Player 4, new features included: internal variable
Variable
A variable is a symbol that stands for a value that may vary; the term usually occurs in opposition to constant, which is a symbol for a non-varying value, i.e.... s, an input field, advanced ActionScript, and streaming
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by, and normally presented to, an End-user while it is being delivered by a streaming provider .... MP3
Macromedia Flash 5 (August 24, 2000): Released with Flash Player 5, new features included: ActionScript 1.0 (based on ECMAScript, making it very similar to JavaScript in syntax), XML support, Smartclips (the precursor to components in Flash), HTML
HTML
HTML, an Acronym and initialism of HyperText Markup Language, is the predominant markup language for Web pages. It provides a means to describe the structure of text-based information in a document?by denoting certain text as links, headings, paragraphs, lists, and so on?and to supplement that text with interactive forms, embedded '... text formatting added for dynamic text
Macromedia Flash MX (ver 6) (March 15, 2002): Released with Flash Player 6, new features included: a video codec
Codec
A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoder and/or Decoding methods a digital data stream or signal . The word codec is a portmanteau of 'compressor-decompressor' or, most commonly, 'coder-decoder'.... (Sorenson Spark), Unicode
Unicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard allowing computers to consistently represent and manipulate Character expressed in most of the world's writing systems.... , v1 UI Components
Widget engine
In computer software, a widget engine is a software service available to users for running and displaying desktop widgets on the desktop metaphor.... , compression
Data compression
In computer science and information theory, data compression or source coding is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than an code representation would use through use of specific encoding schemes.... , ActionScript vector drawing API
Macromedia Flash MX 2004 (ver 7) (September 9, 2003): Released with Flash Player 7, new features included: Actionscript 2.0 (which enabled an object-oriented programming
Object-oriented programming
Object-oriented programming is a programming paradigm that uses "Object_" and their interactions to design applications and computer programs.... model for Flash)(although it lacked the Script assist function of other versions, meaning Actionscript could only be typed out manually), behaviors, extensibility layer (JSAPI), alias text support, timeline effects
Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004 (ver 7) (September 9, 2003): Released with Flash Player 7, new features included all Flash MX 2004 features plus: Screens (forms for non-linear state-based development and slides for organizing content in a linear slide format like PowerPoint
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Office system, and runs on Microsoft Windows and the Mac OS computer operating systems.... ), web services integration, video import wizard, Media Playback components (which encapsulate a complete MP3 and/or FLV player in a component that may be placed in an SWF), Data components (DataSet, XMLConnector, WebServicesConnector, XUpdateResolver, etc) and data binding APIs, the Project Panel, v2 UI components, and Transition class libraries.
Macromedia Flash 8:
Macromedia Flash Basic 8 (released on September 13, 2005): A less feature-rich version of the Flash authoring tool targeted at new users who only want to do basic drawing, animation and interactivity. Released with Flash Player 8, this version of the product has limited support for video and advanced graphical and animation effects.
Macromedia Flash Professional 8 (released on September 13, 2005): Released with the Flash Player 8, Flash Professional 8 added features focused on expressiveness, quality, video, and mobile authoring. New features included Filters and blend modes, easing control for animation, enhanced stroke properties (caps and joins), object-based drawing mode, run-time bitmap caching, FlashType advanced anti-aliasing for text, On2
On2 Technologies
On2 Technologies , formerly known as The Duck Corporation, is a small publicly-traded company , headquartered in Tarrytown, NY that designs video codec technology.... VP6 advanced video codec, support for alpha transparency in video, a stand-alone encoder and advanced video importer, cue point support in FLV files, an advanced video playback component, and an interactive mobile device emulator.
Adobe Flash CS3 Professional (as version 9, released on April 16, 2007): Flash CS3 is the first version of Flash released under the Adobe name. CS3 features full support for ActionScript 3.0, allows things to be converted into ActionScript, adds better integration with other Adobe products such as Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop, or simply Photoshop, is a Graphics software developed and published by Adobe Systems. It is the current and primary Market dominance for commercial Raster graphics and manipulation, and is the flagship product of Adobe Systems.... , and also provides better Vector drawing behavior, becoming more like Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Fireworks.
Adobe Flash CS4 Professional (as version 10, released on October 15, 2008): Contains inverse kinematics
Inverse kinematics
Inverse kinematics is the process of determining the parameters of a kinematic pair flexible object in order to achieve a desired pose. Inverse kinematics is a type of motion planning.... (bones), basic 3D
Three-dimensional space
Three-dimensional space is a geometric model of the physical universe in which we live. The three dimensions are commonly called length, width, and depth , although any three mutually perpendicular directions can serve as the three dimensions.... object manipulation, object-based animation, an enhanced text engine, and further expansions to ActionScript 3.0.
Recent developments
Adobe Labs (previously Macromedia Labs) is a source for news and pre-release versions of emerging products and technologies from Adobe. Most innovations, such as Flash 9, Flex 3, and ActionScript 3.0 have all been discussed and/or trialled on the site.
One area Adobe is focusing on (as of February 2009) is the deployment Rich Internet Applications (RIAs). To this end, they released Adobe Integrated Runtime
Adobe Integrated Runtime
Adobe AIR is a cross-platform runtime environment for building rich Internet applications using Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, HTML, or Ajax , that can be deployed as a application software.... (AIR), a cross-platform
Cross-platform
In computing, cross-platform is a term used to refer to computer software or computing methods and concepts that are implemented and inter-operate on multiple computer platforms.... runtime environment which can be used to build, using Adobe Flash, rich Internet application
Rich Internet application
Rich Internet applications are web applications that have some of the characteristics of Application software, typically delivered by way of an Ajax framework, Proprietary software web browser Plug-in s, advanced javascript compiler technology, or independently via Sandbox es or virtual machines.... s that can be deployed as a desktop application
Application software
Application software is any tool that functions and is operated by means of a computer, with the purpose of supporting or improving the software user 's work.... . It recently surpassed 100 million installations worldwide.
Two additional components designed for large scale implementation have been proposed by Adobe for future releases of Flash. First the option to require an ad to be played in full before the main video piece is played. Secondly, Adobe has announced plans to add digital rights management (DRM)
Digital rights management
Digital rights management refers to access control technologies used by publishers, copyright holders, and hardware manufacturers to limit usage of digital media or devices.... capabilities into the new version of Flash. This way Adobe can give companies the option to link an advertisement with content and make sure that both are played and that they not be changed. The current status of these two projects is unclear.
Flash Player for smartphones is expected to be available to handset manufacturers at the end of 2009.
Open Screen Project
On May 1, 2008 Adobe announced Open Screen Project, which hopes to provide a consistent application interface across devices such as personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose original sales price, size, and capabilities make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator.... s, mobile devices and consumer electronics
Consumer electronics
Consumer electronics include electronic equipment intended for everyday use. Consumer electronics are most often used in entertainment, communications and office productivity.... . When the project was announced, several goals were outlined: the abolition of licensing fees for Adobe Flash Player and Adobe Integrated Runtime
Adobe Integrated Runtime
Adobe AIR is a cross-platform runtime environment for building rich Internet applications using Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, HTML, or Ajax , that can be deployed as a application software.... , the removal of restrictions on the use of the Shockwave Flash (SWF) and Flash Video (FLV) file format
File format
A file format is a particular way to encode information for storage in a computer file.Since a disk drive, or indeed any computer storage, can store only bits, the computer must have some way of converting information to 0s and 1s and vice-versa.... , the publishing of application programming interfaces
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a set of subroutine, data structures, class and/or Protocol provided by library and/or operating system Service s in order to support the building of applications.... for porting Flash to new devices and the publishing of The Flash Cast protocol and Action Message Format (AMF), which let Flash applications receive information from remote databases.
As of February 2009, the specifications which removing the restrictions on the use of SWF and FLV/F4V specs have been published. The Flash Cast® protocol - now known as the Mobile Content Delivery Protocol - and AMF protocols have also been made available, with AMF available as an open source implementation, BlazeDS
BlazeDS
BlazeDS is a server-based Java remoting and web messaging technology that allows you to connect to back-end distributed data and push data in real-time to Adobe Flex and Adobe AIR rich Internet applications .... . Work on the device porting layers is in the early stages. Adobe intends to remove the licensing fees for Flash Player and Adobe AIR for devices at their release for the Open Screen Project.
The list of mobile device providers who have joined the project includes Palm
Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc. is a personal digital assistant and smartphone manufacturer headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, California that is responsible for popular products such as the Zire Handheld, Tungsten Handheld personal digital assistant, Treo smartphones and the LifeDrive.... , Motorola and Nokia, who, together with Adobe, have announced a $10 million Open Screen Project fund.
Programming language
Initially focused on animation, early versions of Flash content offered few interactivity features and thus had very limited scripting capability.
More recent versions include ActionScript, an implementation of the ECMAScript
ECMAScript
ECMAScript is a scripting language, standardized by Ecma International in the ECMA-262 Specification . The language is widely used on the World Wide Web, and is often confused with JavaScript or JScript, the two major Programming language dialect from which ECMAScript was standardized.... standard which therefore has the same syntax as JavaScript, but in a different programming framework with a different associated set of class libraries. ActionScript is used to create almost all of the interactivity (buttons, text entry fields, drop down menus) seen in many Flash applications.
Flash MX 2004 introduced ActionScript 2.0, a scripting programming language more suited to the development of Flash applications. It is often possible to save time by scripting something rather than animating it, which usually also enables a higher level of editability.
Since the arrival of the Flash Player 9 alpha a newer version of ActionScript has been released, ActionScript 3.0. ActionScript 3.0 is an object oriented programming language allowing for more control and code reusability when building complex Flash applications. ActionScript 3.0 has also allowed for formal software engineering methods to be implemented when working with Flash, because of the object oriented programming approach.
Of late, the Flash libraries are being used with the XML capabilities of the browser to render rich content in the browser. This technology is known as Asynchronous Flash and XML, much like AJAX
Ajax (programming)
Ajax, or AJAX , is a group of interrelated web development techniques used to create interactive web applications or rich Internet applications.... . This technology of Asynchronous Flash and XML has pushed for a more formal approach of this technology called Adobe Flex
Adobe Flex
Adobe Flex is a collection of technologies released by Adobe Systems for the development and deployment of cross-platform rich Internet applications based on the proprietary Adobe Flash platform.... , which uses the Flash runtime to build Rich Internet Applications.
This technology can be used in players like those on MySpace
MySpace
MySpace is a social network service website with an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos for teenagers and adults internationally.... and YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a Video hosting service website where users can upload, view and share video clips. Three former PayPal employees created YouTube in February 2005.... , to provide protection for the content that the Flash calls, like MP3s and videos. The content called is streamed - or passes - through the Flash files, making downloading for storage a difficult task for most people. Programs such as Real Player Downloader and browser extensions like Firebug
Firebug (Firefox extension)
The Firebug extension for Mozilla Firefox allows the debugging, editing, and monitoring of any website's CSS, HTML, Document Object Model, and JavaScript, and provides other Web development.... can trace the XML files.
Content protection
Often, Flash authors will decide that while they desire the advantages that Flash affords them in the areas of animation and interactivity, they do not wish to expose their images and/or code to the world. However, once an .swf file is saved locally, one may then attempt to decompile it into its source code and assets. Some decompilers are capable of nearly full reconstruction of the original source file, down to the actual code that was used during creation, even if result varies on a case-by-case basis.
Obfuscated code is source code in a computer programming language that has been made difficult to understand. Programmers may deliberately obfuscate code to conceal its purpose, to deter reverse engineering, or as a puzzle or recreational challenge for readers.... have been introduced to provide a modicum of security, some produced by decompiler authors themselves. The higher-quality obfuscators use traps for the decompilers, making some fail, but none have definitively been shown to protect all content.
A Java Virtual Machine is a set of computer software programs and data structures which use a virtual machine model for the execution of other computer programs and Scripting language.... , Acrobat Reader
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat is a family of software developed by Adobe Systems, designed to view, create, manipulate and manage files in Adobe's Portable Document Format .... , QuickTime, or Windows Media Player, the Flash Player has a small install size, quick download time, and fast initialization time. However, care must be taken to detect and embed the Flash Player in (X)HTML in a W3C compliant way. A simple and widely used workaround is provided below:
More Information on how to detect and embed Flash Objects in a W3C compliant way is provided in the description.
The use of vector graphics combined with program code allows Flash files to be smaller, or streams to use less bandwidth
Bandwidth (computing)
In computer networking and computer science, digital bandwidth, network bandwidth or just bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bit/s or multiples of it .... , than the corresponding bitmaps or video clips. For content in a single format (such as just text, video or audio) other alternatives may provide better performance and consume less CPU
Central processing unit
A central processing unit is an electronic circuit that can execute computer programs. This broad definition can easily be applied to many early computers that existed long before the term "CPU" ever came into widespread usage.... power than the corresponding Flash movie, for example when using transparency or making large screen updates such as photographic or text fades.
In addition to a vector-rendering engine, the Flash Player includes a virtual machine called the ActionScript Virtual Machine (AVM) for scripting interactivity at run-time, support for video, MP3-based audio, and bitmap graphics. As of Flash Player 8, it offers two video codecs: On2 Technologies VP6 and Sorenson Spark
Sorenson codec
The Sorenson codec is a digital video codec devised by the company Sorenson Media. It is used in Apple Computer's QuickTime and in Adobe Flash .... , and run-time support for JPEG
JPEG
In computing, JPEG is a commonly used method of for photographic images. The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality.... , Progressive JPEG, PNG, and GIF. In the next version, Flash is slated to use a just-in-time
Just-in-time compilation
In computing, just-in-time compilation , also known as dynamic translation, is a technique for improving the runtime performance of a computer program.... compiler for the ActionScript engine.
Installed user base
Flash as a format has become very widespread on the desktop market and created a market dominance. Adobe claims that 98 percent of US Web users and 99.3 percent of all Internet desktop users have the Flash Player installed, with 45%56% (depending on region) having the latest version. Numbers vary depending on the detection scheme and research demographics.
The Adobe Flash Player exists for a variety of systems and devices: Windows, Mac OS 9
Mac OS 9
Mac OS 9 is the final major release of Apple Inc. "Classic" Mac OS. Introduced on October 23 1999, Apple positioned it as "The Best Internet Operating System Ever," highlighting Apple Sherlock Internet search capabilities, integration with Apple's free online services known as .Mac, and improved Open Transport networking.... /X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a line of computer operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc., and since 2002 has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems.... , Linux
Linux
Linux is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel. Their development is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software collaboration; typically all the underlying source code can be used, freely modified, and redistributed by anyone under the terms of the GNU GPL license... , Solaris, HP-UX
HP-UX
HP-UX 11i is Hewlett-Packard's proprietary software implementation of the Unix operating system, based on UNIX System V . It runs on the HP 9000 PA-RISC-based range of central processing unit and HP Integrity Intel's Itanium-based systems, and was also available for later Apollo/Domain systems.... , Pocket PC
Pocket PC
A Pocket PC, abbreviated P/PC or PPC, is a hardware specification for a handheld-sized computer that runs the Microsoft Windows Mobile operating system.... , OS/2
OS/2
OS/2 is a computer operating system, initially created by Microsoft and IBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2," because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "IBM Personal System/2 " line of second-generation personal computers.... , QNX
QNX
QNX is a commercial Unix-like real-time operating system, aimed primarily at the embedded systems market. On September 12, 2007, the source of the QNX kernel was released for non-commercial use.... , Symbian, Palm OS
Palm OS
Palm OS is an embedded operating system operating system initially developed by U.S. Robotics Corp.-owned Palm, Inc. for personal digital assistants in 1996.... , BeOS
BeOS
BeOS was an operating system for personal computers which began development by Be Inc. in 1991. It was first written to run on BeBox hardware. BeOS was optimized for digital media work and was written to take advantage of modern hardware facilities such as symmetric multiprocessing by utilizing modular I/O bandwidth, pervasive multithreading,... , and IRIX
IRIX
IRIX is a computer operating system developed by Silicon Graphics, Inc. to run natively on their 32- and 64-bit MIPS architecture workstations and servers.... ). Officially, Adobe Flash only supports 32-bit
32-bit
The range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295 or -2,147,483,648 through 2,147,483,647 using two's complement encoding.... platforms, although experimental 64-bit
64-bit
64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1960s and in RISC-based computer workstation and Server s since the early 1990s. In 2003 they were introduced to the mainstream personal computer arena, in the form of the x86-64 and 64-bit PowerPC processor architectures.... support has been available for Linux
Linux
Linux is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel. Their development is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software collaboration; typically all the underlying source code can be used, freely modified, and redistributed by anyone under the terms of the GNU GPL license... since November 2008. For compatibility with devices (embedded systems), see Macromedia Flash Lite.
The World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web . It is arranged as a consortium where member organizations maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the World Wide Web.... 's SVG
Scalable Vector Graphics
Scalable Vector Graphics is a family of specifications of XML-based file format for describing two-dimensional vector graphics, both static and dynamic .... and SMIL
Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language
SMIL , the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language, is a W3C recommendation XML markup language for describing multimedia presentations.... standards are seen as the closest competitors of Flash. Adobe used to develop and distribute the 'Adobe SVG Viewer' client plug-in for MS Internet Explorer, but has recently announced its discontinuation. It has been noted by industry commentators that this was probably no coincidence at a time when Adobe moved from competing with Macromedia's Flash, to owning the technology itself. Meanwhile, Opera
Opera (web browser)
Opera is a web browser and Internet suite developed by the Opera Software company. Opera handles common Internet-related tasks such as displaying web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, IRC online chatting, downloading files via BitTorrent , and reading web feeds.... has supported SVG since version 8 and Safari
Safari (web browser)
Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Inc.. First released as a beta on January 7, 2003 on the company's Mac OS X operating system, it became Apple's default browser beginning with Mac OS X v10.3, commonly known as "OS X Panther." Apple has also made Safari the native browser for the iPhone OS.... has since version 3, and Firefox's built-in support for SVG continues to grow.
Free Software or software libre is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with minimal restrictions only to ensure that further recipients can also do these things and to prevent consumer-facing hardware... project that intended to become a complete replacement for Adobe Flash. The project collapsed in mid 2007, though people are now discussing reviving or continuing it, and a few other projects like still exist.
Third-party implementation
Specifications
In October 1998, Macromedia disclosed the Flash Version 3 Specification to the world on its website. It did this in response to many new and often semi-open formats competing with SWF, such as Xara's Flare
Xara Flare
Xara Flare Open Vector File Format is a format that was introduced in 1997 by XARA to compete with the Macromedia Flash format. The format was open and developers could export from their products to this format, royalty free and without the need of any permission.... and Sharp's Extended Vector Animation
Extended Vector Animation
Extended Vector Animation is a web-based vector graphic file format developed by Sharp Corporation in 1996. The EVA format differs from other vector formats because only the changes in vectors over time is recorded instead of information per frame.... formats. Several developers quickly created a C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language originally developed in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories to implement the Unix operating system.... library for producing SWF. In February 1999, the company introduced MorphInk 99, the first third-party program to create SWF files. Macromedia also hired Middlesoft to create a freely available developers' kit for the SWF file format versions 3 to 5.
Macromedia made the Flash Files specifications for versions 6 and later available only under a non-disclosure agreement
Non-disclosure agreement
A non-disclosure agreement , also known as a confidentiality agreement, confidential disclosure agreement , proprietary information agreement , or secrecy agreement, is a law contract between at least two party that outlines confidential materials or knowledge the parties wish to share with one another for certain pur... , but it is widely available from various sites.
In April 2006, the Flash SWF file format specification was released with details on the then newest version format (Flash 8). Although still lacking specific information on the incorporated video compression formats (On2, Sorenson Spark, etc.), this new documentation covered all the new features offered in Flash v8 including new ActionScript commands, expressive filter controls, and so on. The file format specification document is offered only to developers who agree to a license agreement that permits them to use the specifications only to develop programs that can export to the Flash file format. The license forbids the use of the specifications to create programs that can be used for playback of Flash files. The Flash 9 specification was made available under similar restrictions.
In May 2008, Adobe launched the Open Screen Project (), which made the SWF specification available without restrictions. The specification remains incomplete, however, as it does not include any details regarding RTMP
Real Time Messaging Protocol
Real Time Messaging Protocol is a proprietary protocol developed by Adobe Systems for streaming media audio, video and data over the Internet, between a Adobe Flash player and a server.... or Sorenson Spark
Sorenson codec
The Sorenson codec is a digital video codec devised by the company Sorenson Media. It is used in Apple Computer's QuickTime and in Adobe Flash .... , both of which are widely used to distribute video through Flash.
Playback
Since Flash files do not depend on an open standard such as SVG, this reduces the incentive for non-commercial software to support the format, although there are several
SWF
The file formatSWF a partially open software repository for multimedia and especially for vector graphics, originated with FutureWave Software and has come under the control of Adobe Systems.... third party tools which use and generate the SWF file format. Flash Player cannot ship as part of a pure open source
Open source
Open source is an approach to design, development, and distribution offering practical accessibility to a product's source . Some consider open source as one of various possible design approaches, while others consider it a critical Strategy element of their business operations.... , or completely free operating system, as its distribution is bound to the and subject to approval.
There is, as of late 2008, no complete free software replacement which offers all the functionality of the latest version of Adobe Flash Player.
The Gnash project aims to create a free software player and browser plugin for the Adobe Flash file format and replace the proprietary software niche currently occupied by Adobe Flash Player.... is an active project that aims to create a free player and browser plugin for the Adobe Flash file format and so provide a free alternative to the Adobe Flash Player under the GNU General Public License. Despite potential patent worries because of the proprietary nature of the files involved, Gnash supports most SWF v7 features and some SWF v8 and v9. Gnash runs on Windows, Linux and other operating systems on 32-bit, 64-bit and other architectures.
Swfdec is a free software/open source software replacement to the Adobe Flash web multimedia player. It is currently compatible with Linux and FreeBSD and is distributed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License .... is another open-source flash player available for Linux, FreeBSD
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a Unix-like free software operating system descended from AT&T Unix via the Berkeley Software Distribution branch through the 386BSD and Berkeley Software Distribution#4.4BSD and descendants operating systems.... and OpenBSD
OpenBSD
OpenBSD is a Unix-like computer operating system descended from Berkeley Software Distribution , a Unix derivative developed at the University of California, Berkeley.... . See also SWFOpener.
Open source is an approach to design, development, and distribution offering practical accessibility to a product's source . Some consider open source as one of various possible design approaches, while others consider it a critical Strategy element of their business operations.... projects like , and the (now defunct) UIRA aim to create a flash development environment, complete with a graphical user environment. Alternatively, programs such as swfmill
Swfmill
swfmill is a free software command line tool that generates Adobe Flash files.It is an Extensible Markup Language to SWF to XML processor using SWFML, an XML dialect closely modeled after the SWF format.... , SWFTools
SWFTools
SWFTools is a suite of software tools to create and manipulate SWF files. SWF is the file format used by Adobe Flash animation software. SWFTools runs on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, AmigaOS, Linux and several other Unix-like systems.... , and MTASC
MTASC
MTASC is an ActionScript 2.0 compiler written in the Objective Caml by the company Motion-Twin. It is free software and can be used alone or with other tools like swfmill to produce SWF files, which contain interactive multimedia content playable with the Flash Player.... provide tools to create SWF files, but do so by compiling text, actionscript or XML files into Flash animations. It is also possible to create SWF files programmatically using the Ming library
Ming library
Ming is a C library for creating Adobe Flash files. It is often packaged as a PHP module; this allows for the dynamic generation of Flash animations by the web server based on input from a database.... , which has interfaces for C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language originally developed in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories to implement the Unix operating system.... , PHP
PHP
PHP is a scripting language originally designed for producing dynamic web pages. It has evolved to include a command line interface capability and can be used in Standalone software Graphical user interface.... , C++
C++
C++ is a general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as a middle-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level programming language and low-level programming language language features.... , Perl
Perl
In computer programming, Perl is a high-level programming language, List of programming languages by category, Interpreter , dynamic programming language.... , Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose high-level programming language. Its design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python's core syntax and semantics are Minimalism , while the standard library is large and comprehensive.... , and Ruby
Ruby (programming language)
Ruby is a dynamic programming language, reflection , general purpose object-oriented programming language that combines syntax inspired by Perl with Smalltalk-like features.... . haXe
HaXe
haXe is a programming language, designed for creating interactive web applications. Currently there are four official compiler targets - Adobe Flash, JavaScript, PHP and the Neko .... is an open source, high-level object-oriented programming language geared towards web-content creation that can compile Flash files.
The term shareware, popularized by Bob Wallace, refers to copyrighted commercial software that is distributed without payment on a trial basis and is limited by any combination of functionality, availability, or convenience.... developers produced Flash creation tools and sold them for under US$50 between 2000 and 2002. In 2003 competition and the emergence of free Flash creation tools had driven many third-party Flash-creation tool-makers out of the market, allowing the remaining developers to raise their prices, although many of the products still cost less than US$100 and support ActionScript. As for open source tools, KToon
KToon
KToon is a 2D computer graphics computer animation toolkit designed by Colombian Toonka Films for animators.KToon is currently available for Unix-like systems such as Linux.... can edit vectors and generate SWF, but its interface is very different from Macromedia's. Another, more recent example of a Flash creation tool is SWiSH Max
SWiSH Max
SWiSH Max is a program that utilises Adobe Flash technology to create cross-platform compatible presentations. It is developed and distributed by Swishzone.com Pty Ltd, based in Sydney, Australia.... made by an ex-employee of Macromedia. Toon Boom Technologies also sells traditional animation tool, based on Flash - Toon-Army.
In addition, several programs create .swf-compliant files as output from their programs. Among the most-famous of these are Screencast
Screencast
A screencast is a digital recording of computer screen output, also known as a video screen capture, often containing audio narration. Although the term screencast dates from 2004, products such as Lotus Software ScreenCam were used as early as 1994.... tools, which leverage the ability to do lossless compression and playback of captured screen content in order to produce demos, tutorials, or software simulations of programs. These programs are typically designed for use by non-programmers, and create Flash content quickly and easily, but cannot actually edit the underlying Flash code (i.e. the tweening and transforms, etc.) Screencam
ScreenCam
SmartGuyz ScreenCam is an ScreenCast tool for Microsoft Windows which can be used to author software demonstrations, software simulations, branched scenarios, and tutorials in .swf format.... is perhaps the oldest screencasting authoring tool to adopt Flash as the preferred output format, having been developed since the mid-90s. That screencasting programs have adopted Flash as the preferred output is testament to Flash's presence as a ubiquitous cross-platform animation file format.
Other tools are focused on creating specific types of Flash content. Anime Studio
Anime Studio
Anime Studio is a proprietary Vector graphics-based 2D computer graphics Computer animation software for animators originally distributed by LostMarble, later by e frontier.... is a 2D animation software specialized for character animation which creates SWF files. Express Animator
Express Animator
Express Animator is a software program for making animations, primarily Adobe Flash animations for websites. It is similar to Adobe's Adobe Flash MX software but has additional features such as skeletal animation and exporting to Silverlight format while lacking advanced features such as advanced scripting.... is similarly aimed specifically at animators. Question Writer
Question Writer
Question Writer is a quiz authoring tool for Microsoft Windows. It is used for authoring questions and compiling them into quizzes in the Adobe Flash.... publishes its quizzes to Flash file format.
Users that are not programmers or web designers will also find on-line tools that allow them to build full Flash-based web sites. One of the oldest services available (1998) is . Such companies provide a wide variety of pre-built models (templates) associated to a Content Management System that empowers users to easily build, edit and publish their web sites. Another site, which allows for greater customization and design flexability is Wix.com
Wix.com
Wix.com is a free Flash web creation site funded by Bessemer and Mangrove Venture Capital. It enables users to create any kind of web content with a simple drag and drop interface and publish that content anywhere they want.... .
Adobe LiveMotion was a product created by Adobe Systems released in 2000 and perceived as a direct competitor to Macromedia Flash. It replaced the discontinued Adobe ImageStyler program, which Adobe had sold from 1998 to 2000.... , designed to create interactive animation content and export it to a variety of formats, including SWF. LiveMotion went through two major releases, but failed to gain any notable user base.
In February 2003, Macromedia purchased Presedia, which had developed a Flash authoring tool that automatically converted PowerPoint Files into Flash. Macromedia subsequently released the new product as Breeze, which included many new enhancements. In addition, (as of version 2) Apple's Keynote
Keynote (software)
Keynote is a presentation program application developed as a part of the iWork productivity suite by Apple Inc. Keynote 5 was announced on January 6, 2009 and is the most recent version.... presentation software also allows users to create interactive presentations and export to SWF.
The file formatSWF a partially open software repository for multimedia and especially for vector graphics, originated with FutureWave Software and has come under the control of Adobe Systems....
.swf files are completed, compiled and published files that cannot be edited with Adobe Flash. However, many '.swf decompilers' do exist. Attempting to import .swf files using Flash allows it to retrieve some assets from the .swf, but not all.
.fla
.fla files contain source material for the Flash application. Flash authoring software can edit FLA files and compile them into .swf files.
.xfl
.xfl files are XML-based project files that are equivalent to the binary .fla format. Flash authoring software will use XFL as an exchange format in Flash CS4. It will import XFL files that are exported from InDesign and AfterEffects.
In computer science, source code is any collection of statements or declarations written in some human-readable computer programming language.... in simple source files. FLA files can also contain Actionscript code directly, but separate external .as files often emerge for structural reasons, or to expose the code to versioning applications. They sometimes use the extension .actionscript
.swd
.swd files are temporary debugging files used during Flash development. Once finished developing a Flash project these files are not needed and can be removed.
.asc
.asc files contain Server-Side ActionScript, which is used to develop efficient and flexible client-server Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX applications.
Flash Video is a file format used to deliver video over the Internet using Adobe Systems Adobe Flash Player versions 6?10. Until version 9 update 2 of the Flash Player, Flash Video referred to a proprietary file format, having the extension FLV....
.flv files are Flash video files, as created by Adobe Flash, ffmpeg
FFmpeg
FFmpeg is a computer program that can record, convert and streaming media digital sound recording and video in numerous formats. FFmpeg is a command line tool that is composed of a collection of free software / open-source software library .... , Sorenson Squeeze
Sorenson Squeeze
Sorenson Squeeze is a compression suite for video. It batch transcodes to multiple formats including QuickTime, Windows Media and Flash Video. It uses multiple codecs such as Sorenson 3 Pro, H.264, H.263, and many others.... , or On2 Flix
On2 Flix
On2 Flix is a family of Macromedia_Flash video encoding applications for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. on2 acquired Flix from Wildform, Inc. in May, 2005, shortly after Macromedia announced that it would use On2's VP6 video codec in the Flash 8 platform.... .
MPEG-4 Part 14, formally International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission 14496-14:2003, is a multimedia container format standard specified as a part of MPEG-4.... files that can be played back by Flash Player 9 Update 3 and above.
Digital rights management refers to access control technologies used by publishers, copyright holders, and hardware manufacturers to limit usage of digital media or devices.... .
.f4a
.f4a files are mp4 files that contain only audio streams.
An audiobook is a recording that is primarily of the spoken word as opposed to music. While it is often based on a recording of commercially available printed material, this is not always the case.... files.
.swc
.swc files are used for distributing components; they contain a compiled clip, the component's ActionScript class file, and other files that describe the component.
.jsfl
.jsfl files are used to add functionality in the Flash Authoring environment; they contain Javascript code and access the Flash Javascript API.
.swt
.swt files are 'templatized' forms of .swf files, used by Macromedia Generator
.flp
.flp files are XML files used to reference all the document files contained in a Flash Project. Flash Projects allow the user to group multiple, related files together to assist in Flash project organization, compilation and build.
.spl
.spl files are FutureSplash documents.
.aso
.aso files are cache files used during Flash development, containing compiled ActionScript byte code. An ASO file is recreated when a change in its corresponding class files is detected. Occasionally the Flash IDE does not recognize that a recompile is necessary, and these cache files must be deleted manually. They are located in %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash8\en\Configuration\Classes\aso on Win32 / Flash8.
.lmv
These files are created by the freeware program called liveswif.They are used to save the animation in an editable file , but can also be converted into an .swf file to produce online content for the web. This file has nothing to do with adobe flash Fla file , with the only similarity being that they both hold editable data that can be converted into a swf file.
The Adobe Flash Player is software for creating and viewing animations and movies using computer programs such as a web browser; in common usage, flash lets you put animation and movies on a web site.... to hold Local Shared Object
Local Shared Object
A Local Shared Object is a collection of []-like data stored as a file on a user's PC. LSOs are used by all versions of Adobe Flash Player and Version 6 and above of Macromedia's now-obsolete Flash MX Player.... s (data stored on the system running the Flash player).
Video in web pages
Flash can be used to embed video in web pages, a feature available since Flash Player version 6. The technique is to create a flash file (.swf) that acts as a player for the video file. This is the basis for many popular video sites, including YouTube and Google Video
Google Video
Google Video is a free video sharing website and also a video search engine from Google that allows anyone to upload video clips to Google's web servers as well as make their own media available free of charge; some videos are also offered for sale through the Google Video Store.... . The actual video file is either an FLV or H.264
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
H.264 is a standard for video compression, and is equivalent to MPEG-4 Part 10, or MPEG-4 AVC . , it is the latest block-oriented motion-compensation-based codec standard developed by the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group together with the International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical... file, both can easily be played by generic videoplayer software. However, getting browsers to display video is still a platform specific issue due to lack of a common video format
Video codec
A video codec is a device or software that enables video compression and/or decompression for digital video. The compression usually employs lossy data compression.... , and the subject of a web standard for video is a heated debate (see HTML 5
HTML 5
HTML 5 is the fifth major revision of the core language of the World Wide Web, HTML. HTML 5 specifies two variants of the same language, a "classic" HTML variant known as HTML 5 and an XHTML variant known as XHTML 5.... ). Using Flash partly solves the problem because of the wide distribution of Flash Player, but as this is proprietary technology for which there is no real alternative, it makes the media notoriously difficult to access for non-users of the Flash Player, particularly if the location of the video file is moved out of the HTML source.
Flash movies can run in browsers with the proper Flash player installed, although it is important to note that Flash movies cannot run within an e-mail client. Outlook, gmail, hotmail, etc., cannot run flash movies within an e-mail. Movies must be linked from the message so that a new browser window opens up. Flash has the ability from here to determine if the browser has the correct player installed and whether or not to display the movie, or an alternate message if the user does not have Flash.
Flash Video
Flash Video (.flv files) is a container format, meaning that it is not a video format in itself, but can contain other formats. The video in Flash is encoded in H.263
H.263
H.263 is a video codec standard originally designed as a low-bitrate compressed format for videoconferencing. It was developed by the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group in a project ending in 1995/1996 as one member of the H.26x family of video coding standards in the domain of the ITU-T.... , and starting with Flash player 8, it may alternatively be encoded in VP6
VP6
TrueMotion VP6 is a video codec developed by On2 Technologies as a successor to earlier efforts such as VP3 and VP5. The VP6 codec has been used in products for broadcasting in the field, such as with BBC reporters and QuickLink software.... . The audio is in MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a digital audio Encoder format using a form of lossy data compression. It is a common audio format for consumer audio storage, as well as a de facto standard encoding for the transfer and playback of music on digital audio players.... . The use of VP6 is common in many companies, because of the large adoption rates of Flash Player 8 and Flash Player 9.
On August 20, 2007, Adobe announced on its blog that with Update 3 of Flash Player 9, Flash Video will also support the MPEG-4
MPEG-4
MPEG-4 is a collection of methods defining Video compression of audio and visual digital data. It was introduced in late 1998 and designated a standardization for a group of sound and video coding formats and related technology agreed upon by the International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission Moving... international standard. Specifically, Flash Player will have support for video compressed in H.264 (MPEG-4 Part 10), audio compressed using AAC
Advanced Audio Coding
Advanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy data compression Audio data compression and encoder scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at many bit rates.... (MPEG-4 Part 3), the MP4, M4V, M4A, 3GP
3GP
3GP is a multimedia container format defined by the 3GPP for use on 3G mobile phones but can also be played on some 2G and 4G phones.... and MOV
MOV
MOV may refer to:* MOV , a mnemonic for the copying of data from one location to another in the X86 assembly language* .mov, file extension for the QuickTime multimedia file format... multimedia container formats (MPEG-4 Part 14), 3GPP
3GPP
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project is a collaboration between groups of telecommunications associations, to make a globally applicable third generation mobile phone system specification within the scope of the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 project of the International Telecommunication Union .... Timed Text
Timed Text
Timed Text refers to the presentation of text media in synchrony with other media, such as audio and video.Typical applications of timed text are the real time subtitling of foreign-language movies on the Web, captioning for people lacking audio devices or having hearing impairments, karaoke, scrolling news items or teleprompter application... specification (MPEG-4 Part 17) which is a standardized subtitle format and partial parsing support for the 'ilst' atom which is the ID3
ID3
ID3 is a metadata container most often used in conjunction with the MP3 audio file format. It allows information such as the title, artist, album, track number, or other information about the file to be stored in the file itself.... equivalent iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a Proprietary software digital media media player application, used for playing and organizing digital music and video files. The program is also an interface to manage the contents on Apple's popular iPod digital media players as well as the iPhone.... uses to store metadata
Metadata
Metadata is "data about other data", of any sort in any media. An item of metadata may describe an individual datum, or content item, or a collection of data including multiple content items and hierarchical levels, for example a database schema.... . Adobe also announced that they will be gradually moving away from the proprietary FLV format to the standard MP4 format owing to functional limits with the FLV structure when streaming H.264. The final release of the Flash Player supporting MPEG-4 had become available in Fall 2007.
Criticism
This is about criticism of the Flash format, Adobe's Flash Player and the use of such technology. Depending on subject, some claims might as well apply to similar technologies.
Usability
Many usability concerns regarding Flash concern how it breaks with conventions associated with normal HTML pages. Things like selecting text, scrollbars, form control and right-clicking act differently than with a regular HTML webpage. Usability expert Jakob Nielsen
Jakob Nielsen (usability consultant)
Jakob Nielsen is a leading web usability consultant. He holds a Ph.D. in human-computer interaction from the Technical University of Denmark in Copenhagen.... published an Alertbox in 2000 entitled, Flash: 99% Bad which listed many of these issues. Much of this criticism was due to poor implementation, rather than inherent problems with Flash. Some problems have been fixed since Nielsen's complaints; text size, for example, can now be easily controlled using the full page zoom now implemented in many modern browsers.
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is the short title of United States , codified at et seq. It was List of United States federal legislation on July 26, 1990, by President George H.... :
Covered entities under the ADA are required to provide effective communication, regardless of whether they generally communicate through print media, audio media, or computerized media such as the Internet. Covered entities that use the Internet for communications regarding their programs, goods, or services must be prepared to offer those communications through accessible means as well.
Although it has been possible for authors to include alternative text content in Flash since Flash Player 6, Flash's accessibility
Accessibility
Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product is accessible by as many people as possible. Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access" the functionality, and possible benefit, of some system or entity.... features are compatible only with certain screen readers and only under Windows. Internet users who are visually-impaired
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define "blindness." Total blindness is the complete lack of form and visual light perception and is clinically recorded as "NLP," an abbreviation for "no ligh... , or who require larger text sizes or high-contrast color schemes may find sites that make extensive use of Flash difficult, although the former can now be controlled using the full page zoom options found in many modern browsers.
The word proprietary indicates that a party, or proprietor, exercises private ownership, control or use over an item of property.Terms relating to Proprietary include:... nature of Flash is a major concern to advocates of open standard
Open standard
An open standard is a standard that is publicly available and has various rights to use associated with it, and various properties of how it was designed.... s and free software
Free software
Free Software or software libre is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with minimal restrictions only to ensure that further recipients can also do these things and to prevent consumer-facing hardware... . Its widespread use has, according to some such observers, harmed the otherwise open nature of the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a very large set of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. With a Web browser, one can view Web pages that may contain writing, s, videos, and other multimedia and navigate between them using hyperlinks.... . A response may be seen in Adobe's Open Screen Project.
Cascading Style Sheets is a stylesheet language used to describe the presentation of a document written in a markup language. Its most common application is to style web pages written in HTML and XHTML, but the language can be applied to any kind of XML document, including Scalable Vector Graphics and XUL.... and co-author of HTML 5
HTML 5
HTML 5 is the fifth major revision of the core language of the World Wide Web, HTML. HTML 5 specifies two variants of the same language, a "classic" HTML variant known as HTML 5 and an XHTML variant known as XHTML 5.... , Håkon Wium Lie
Håkon Wium Lie
H?kon Wium Lie is, , Chief Technology Officer of Opera Software, where he has worked since 1999.He attended ?stfold College, West Georgia College and MIT Media Lab receiving an MS in Visual Studies in 1991.... explained in a Google tech talk the proposal of Theora
Theora
Theora is an open and royalty-free lossy video compression technology being developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation as part of their Ogg project. Based upon On2 Technologies' VP3 codec, Theora competes with MPEG-4, Windows Media Video, and similar low-bitrate video compression schemes.... as the video codec for HTML 5 (see also the Ogg controversy
HTML 5
HTML 5 is the fifth major revision of the core language of the World Wide Web, HTML. HTML 5 specifies two variants of the same language, a "classic" HTML variant known as HTML 5 and an XHTML variant known as XHTML 5.... ):
I believe very strongly, that we need to agree on some kind of baseline video format if [the video element] is going to succeed. Flash is today the baseline format on the web. The problem with Flash is that it's not an open standard.
The free software movement is a social movement which aims to promote user's rights to access and modify software. The alternative terms for free software "libre software", "open source", and "FOSS" are associated with the free software movement.... , Richard Stallman
Richard Stallman
Richard Matthew Stallman , often abbreviated "rms","'Richard Stallman' is just my mundane name; you can call me 'rms'"|last= Stallman... stated in a speech in October 2004 that:
The use of Flash in websites is a major problem for our community.
Stallman's argument then was that no free players were comparatively good enough. As of February 2009, Gnash
Gnash
The Gnash project aims to create a free software player and browser plugin for the Adobe Flash file format and replace the proprietary software niche currently occupied by Adobe Flash Player.... and Swfdec
Swfdec
Swfdec is a free software/open source software replacement to the Adobe Flash web multimedia player. It is currently compatible with Linux and FreeBSD and is distributed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License .... have seen very limited success in replacing Adobe's player. The fact that many important and popular websites expect users to have Adobe's player, combined with no good free alternative have led to frustration among users, suggesting that this is the most common obstacle to enjoying the web in freedom, which presumably relates to the ranking of Gnash as number one on the Free Software Foundation's list of .
For free software users willing to accept Adobe's player, the situation has improved lately. Adobe Flash Player has gained good cross-platform and cross-device support. From the Linux camp, criticism calmed significantly after the release of Flash Player 9 (Jan 17 2007) and the more recent beta-release of a 64-bit Flash Player (Nov 17 2008).
Use of computer resources
It is argued that the performance of Adobe Flash Player on different platforms may not be optimal.
Any flash player has to be able to animate on top of the video rendering, which makes hardware accelerated
Hardware acceleration
In computing, hardware acceleration is the use of hardware to perform some function faster than is possible in software running on the general purpose Central processing unit.... video rendering at least not as straightforward as with a purpose built multimedia player. It is not uncommon for other multimedia players to play fine where Flash Player drops frames and skips audio.
Many popular web browsers now have extensions that prevent immediate Flash playback, but lets the user play it by clicking it first. Firefox has NoScript
NoScript
NoScript is a free and open-source List of Firefox extensions for Mozilla Firefox, SeaMonkey, Flock and other Mozilla-based browsers. NoScript allows JavaScript, Java , Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight and other plugins and scripted content to be selectively executed based on a whitelist.... and Flashblock
Flashblock
Flashblock is a content-filtering List of Firefox extensions for the Mozilla Firefox- and Mozilla Application Suite-based web browsers. Flashblock allows users to prevent page elements, such as HTML element#Images and objects Browser plug-ins and online advertising, from being displayed.... while a separate extension for Opera called Flashblock is available. One similar extension for Internet Explorer is Foxie, and contains a number of features, one of which is also named Flashblock. K-Meleon
K-Meleon
K-Meleon is a web browser for the Microsoft Windows platform. Based on the same Gecko layout engine as Mozilla Firefox, K-Meleon uses native Windows Application programming interface to create the user interface , and as a result, is tightly integrated into the look and feel of the Windows desktop; this approach is similar to that of Galeon... has a built-in Flash blocker.
LiveSwif was a freeware animation program designed by the LiveSwif team on March 19, 2004. LiveSwif supports key frame animation and vector drawing....
Microsoft Silverlight is a programmable web browser plugin that enables features such as animation, vector graphics and multimedia that characterizes rich Internet applications....
JavaFX is a software platform for creating and delivering rich Internet applications that can run across wide variety of connected devices. The current release enables building applications for desktop, browser and mobile phones....
OpenLaszlo is an open source platform for the development and delivery of rich Internet applications. It is released under the Open Source Initiative-certified Common Public License....
Synfig is a free and open source software 2D vector graphics and timeline-based animation program created by Robert Quattlebaum with additional contributions by Adrian Bentley....
