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The Adobe Flash Player is a widely distributed multimedia and application player created and distributed by Macromedia (a division of Adobe Systems). Flash Player runs SWF files that can be created by the Adobe Flash authoring tool, Adobe Flex or a number of other Macromedia and third party tools.

Adobe Flash, or simply Flash, refers to both a multimedia authoring program and the Adobe Flash Player, written and distributed by Adobe, that uses vector and raster graphics, a native scripting language called ActionScript and bidirectional streaming of video and audio. Strictly speaking, Adobe Flash is the authoring environment and Flash Player is the virtual machine used to run the Flash files, but in colloquial language these have become mixed: "Flash" can mean either the authoring environment, the player, or the application files.

Flash Player has support for an embedded scripting language called ActionScript (AS), which is based on ECMAScript. As time has passed, AS has been developed from a primitive script that previously didn't support variables to a respectable programming script that can be used to make rather complex games and other applications.

The Flash Player was originally designed to display 2-dimensional vector animation, but has since evolved to support Rich Internet Applications and streaming video and audio. Today, most web browsers have Flash Player built-in, and can view Flash files on web pages as if they were images. The Flash files themselves usually consist of vector graphics, meaning that instead of rendering individual pixels, Flash Player renders lines and fills to create dynamic shapes that can be adapted in real time. Because of this, most Flash movies tend to have a cartoon-look as opposed to a realistic appearance. Most users claim this is not so much a bad thing as it makes web-based animations and simple programs/games easier to deliver to wide audiences. Because of the way Flash compresses SWF, a typical ten minute long Flash movie would have a file size (in MB) that can be counted on one hand.

Supported platforms

The Flash Player is available on a wide range of platforms, operating systems, and devices, including GNU/Linux x86, Windows, Mac OS 9/X, Solaris, HP-UX, Pocket PC, OS/2, Symbian OS, Palm OS, BeOS, IRIX, and Playstation Portable. Version 9 of Flash Player is already available for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X platforms and will be available for Linux in early 2007.Emmy Huang Weblog http://weblogs.macromedia.com/emmy/archives/2006/05/yes_virginia_th.cfm (Taken 3rd July 2006) Version 7 is the newest version available for other platforms.Abobe 'About Flash' page http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/about/ (Taken 3rd July 2006)

The Kodak Easyshare One includes Flash Player. The Flash Player SDK was used to develop its on-screen menus, which are rendered and displayed using the included Flash Player.Macromedia - Flash Player SDK http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer_sdk/ (Taken 7th July 2006)

Among other devices, LeapFrog Enterprises provides Flash Player with their Leapster Multimedia Learning System and extended the Flash Player with touch-screen support.Adobe Success Story: LeapFrog Enterprises http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/showcase/index.cfm?event=casestudydetail&casestudyid=21019&loc=en_us (Taken 7th July 2006) Sony has recently integrated Flash Player 6 into the Playstation Portable's web browser via firmware version 2.70.

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History

Player versions

  • Macromedia Flash Player 2
    • First version under Macromedia brand
    • Mostly vectors and motion, some bitmaps, limited audio
  • Macromedia Flash Player 3
    • Added alpha transparency, licensed MP3 compression
  • Macromedia Flash Player 4
  • Macromedia Flash Player 5
  • Macromedia Flash Player 6 (March 2002)
    • Support for the consuming Flash Remoting and Web Service (SOAP)
    • Support for screenreaders via Microsoft Active Accessibility
    • Added Sorenson Sparc video codec
  • Macromedia Flash Player 7 (September 2003)
    • supports streaming audio and video
    • supports ActionScript 2.0, an Object-Oriented Programming Language for developers
  • Macromedia Flash Player 8 (August 2005)
    • support of GIF and PNG bitmapped images
    • new video codec (On2 VP6)
    • improved runtime performance
    • live filters such as blur and drop shadow
    • file upload and download capabilities
    • crisp pixel-perfect text rendering
  • Flash Player Lite 1.0 and 1.1
    • Based on Flash Player 4
  • Flash Lite 2.0 (December 2005)
    • Based on Flash Player 7
  • Adobe Flash Player 9 (June 2006) prevously named Flash Player 8.5
    • New ECMAScript scripting engine, ActionScript Virtual Machine AVM2. AVM retained for compatibility.
    • Actionscript 3 via AMV2.
    • E4X, which is a new approach to parsing XML.
    • Support for binary sockets.
    • Support for Regular Expressions and namespaces.

Current (Developer) Player

References and notes

See also

External links

  • Adobe.com Official Flash Player information and download page.
  • Adobe Flash Player archive Official Flash Player archive for developer testing.
  • Adobe Flash Player alternates Official Flash Player alternates for Linux, Solaris, PocketPC, and HP-UX.
  • Gnash GNU Flash movie player - a free open-source Flash Player
  • Flash Movie Player - freeware 3rd party Flash player for Microsoft Windows with extended functionality (based on the Macromedia Flash Player)

Adobe software | Linux media players | Mac OS media players | Macromedia software | Windows media players

Macromedia Flash Player | Macromedia Flash Player

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Adobe Flash Player".

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