This article is about the browser plugin. Contents.Features Adobe Flash Player is a runtime that executes and displays content from a provided file, although it has no in-built features to modify the SWF file at runtime.
It can execute software written in the programming language which enables the runtime manipulation of text, data,. The player can also access certain connected hardware devices, including the and, after permission for the same has been granted by the user.Flash Player is used internally by the (AIR), to provide a cross-platform runtime environment for and mobile applications. AIR supports installable applications on, and some mobile operating systems such as. Flash applications must specifically be built for the AIR runtime to use additional features provided, such as file system integration, native client extensions, native window/screen integration, taskbar/dock integration, and hardware integration with connected and devices. Data formats Flash Player includes native support for many, some of which can only be accessed through the scripting interface. XML: Flash Player has included native support for parsing and generation since version 8. XML data is held in memory as an XML, and can be manipulated using ActionScript.
ActionScript 3 also supports (E4X), which allows XML data to be manipulated more easily. JSON: Flash Player 11 includes native support for importing and exporting data in the (JSON) format, which allows interoperability with and programs. AMF: Flash Player allows application data to be stored on users computers, in the form of, the Flash equivalent to. Flash Player can also read and write files in the, the default data format for Local Shared Objects. Since the AMF format specification is published, data can be transferred to and from Flash applications using AMF datasets instead of or, reducing the need for and such data.
SWF: The specification for the file format was published by Adobe, enabling the development of the SWX Format project, which used the SWF file format and AMF as a means for Flash applications to exchange data with server side applications. The SWX system stores data as standard SWF bytecode which is automatically interpreted by Flash Player. Another project, SWXml allows Flash applications to load XML files as native ActionScript objects without any client-side XML parsing, by converting XML files to SWF/AMF on the server.Multimedia formats Flash Player is primarily a graphics and multimedia platform, and has supported and since its earliest version. It supports the following different multimedia formats which it can natively and play back. MP3: Support for decoding and playback of (MP3) audio was introduced in Flash Player 4. MP3 files can be accessed and played back from a server via, or embedded inside an SWF file, which is also a streaming format. FLV: Support for decoding and playing back video and audio inside (FLV and F4V) files, a format developed.
Flash Video is only a container format and supports multiple different video, such as, and more recently. Flash Player uses hardware acceleration to display video where present, using technologies such as and to do so. Flash Video is used by, and other news providers.
FLV files can be played back from a server using, and can also be embedded inside an SWF file. Flash Video can also be streamed via using the or other such server-side software. PNG: Support for decoding and rendering (PNG) images, in both its 24-bit (opaque) and 32-bit (semi-transparent) variants. Flash Player 11 can also encode a PNG bitmap via ActionScript. JPEG: Support for decoding and rendering compressed images. Flash Player 10 added support for the advanced image compression standard developed by, which results in better compression and quality than JPEG.
JPEG-XR enables and compression with or without transparency. Flash Player 11 can also encode a JPEG or JPEG-XR bitmap via ActionScript. GIF: Support for decoding and rendering compressed (GIF) images, in its single-frame variants only. Loading a multi-frame GIF will display only the first image frame.Streaming protocols. HTTP: Support for communicating with using requests and data.
However, only websites that explicitly allow Flash to connect to them can be accessed via HTTP or, to prevent Flash being used as a tool for,. Websites must host a certain XML file termed a cross domain policy, allowing or denying Flash content from specific websites to connect to them. Certain websites, such as, already host a cross domain policy that permits Flash content to access their website via HTTP. RTMP: Support for live audio and video streaming using the (RTMP) developed.
RTMP supports a non-encrypted version over the (TCP) or an encrypted version over a secure (SSL) connection. RTMPT can also be within requests to traverse that only allow HTTP traffic. TCP: Support for (TCP) Internet socket communication to communicate with any type of server, using. Sockets can be used only via, and can transfer, or binary data (ActionScript 3.0 and later). To prevent security issues, web servers that permit Flash content to communicate with them using sockets must host an -based cross domain policy file, served on 843.
Sockets enable AS3 programs to interface with any kind of server software, such as.Performance Hardware acceleration Until version 10 of the Flash player, there was no support for acceleration. Version 10 added a limited form of support for on materials in the form of the API, but still did not have GPU-accelerated 3D vertex processing.
A significant change came in version 11, which added a new low-level API called (initially codenamed Molehill), which provides full GPU acceleration, similar to. (The partial support for GPU acceleration in Pixel Bender was completely removed in Flash 11.8, resulting in the disruption of some projects like MIT's, which lacked the manpower to recode their applications quickly enough. )Current versions of Flash Player are optimized to use for video playback and 3D graphics rendering on many devices, including desktop computers. Performance is similar to playback. Also, Flash Player has been used on multiple mobile devices as a primary user interface renderer. Main article:In 2011, Flash Player had emerged as the de facto standard for online video publishing on the desktop, with adaptive bitrate video streaming, and fullscreen support. On mobile devices however, after refused to allow the Flash Player within the inbuilt web browser, Adobe changed strategy, enabling Flash content to be delivered as native mobile applications using the.Up until 2012, Flash Player 11 was available for the (ARM Cortex-A8 and above), although in June 2012, Google announced that Android 4.1 (codenamed ) would not support Flash by default.
Starting in August 2012, Adobe no longer updates Flash for Android. In spite of this, Adobe Flash is still available to install on Android devices via Adobe's update archives (up to Android 4.3).Flash Player is certified to be supported on a select range of mobile and tablet devices, from, (and ),.
As of 2012, Adobe has stopped browser-based Flash Player development for mobile browsers in favor of, however Adobe continues to support Flash content on mobile devices with the Adobe Integrated Runtime, which allows developers to publish content that runs as native applications on certain supported mobile phone platforms.Version 9 was the most recent version available for the Linux/-based // Internet tablets running OS2008, classic and Windows 95/NT. Version 10 can be run under Windows 98/Me using. HP offered Version 6 of the player for. Other versions of the player have been available at some point for,.
The includes Flash Player.Adobe said it will optimize Flash for use on (ARMv7 and ARMv6 architectures used in the Cortex-A series of processors and in the ARM11 family) and release it in the second half of 2009. The company also stated it wants to enable Flash on, 3 and Samsung ARMs. Beginning 2009, it was announced that Adobe would be bringing Flash to via Media Processor CE 3100 before mid-2009. Later said it welcomes the move of Flash, because 'it will transform mobile applications and it removes the claim that the desktop controls the Internet.' However, as of May 2009, the expected ARM/Linux devices had poor support for Web video and fragmented software base.Among other devices, provides Flash Player with their Leapster Multimedia Learning System and extended the Flash Player with touch-screen support. Sony has integrated Flash Player 6 into the 's web browser via firmware version 2.70 and Flash Player 9 into the 's web browser in firmware version 2.50. Has integrated 3.1, equivalent to Flash 8, in the on the.The following table documents historical support for Flash Player and AIR on:PlatformLatest version2.2–4.1, +Flash Player 11.1, AIR 3.12.1Flash Lite 3.0Flash Player 11.1, AIR 3.1.0–10.3.1Flash Player 11.1, AIR 3.1Flash Player 11.1, AIR 3.1Flash Player 4.0Flash Player 9.4with Firmware 2.50, NetFront 2.81Flash Player 9.1 (update 3)with Firmware 2.70Flash Player 64.03.1Flash Player 7(Palm and HP)Flash Player 10Flash Player 7Other hardware Some CPU have been created for Flash Player, including, and the.
They enable video games created for such platforms to run within Flash Player.Open source Adobe has taken steps to reduce or eliminate Flash licensing costs. For instance, the file format documentation is provided free of charge after they relaxed the requirement of accepting a to view it in 2008. Adobe also created the which removes licensing fees and opens data protocols for Flash.Adobe has also open-sourced many components relating to Flash. In 2006, the (AVM2) which implements was donated as open-source to, to begin work on the virtual machine that would implement the language standard with the help of the community. It was released under the terms of a // and includes the specification for the ActionScript format; jointly managed by Mozilla and Adobe Systems It is now considered obsolete by Mozilla. In 2011, the was donated as open-source to the and rebranded as Apache Flex.
Some saw this move as Adobe abandoning Flex, and stepping away from the Flash Platform as a whole. Sources from Apache say that 'Enterprise application development is no longer a focus at Adobe. At least as Flash is concerned, Adobe is concentrating on games and video.' , and they conclude that 'Flex Innovation is Exploding!' The donated source code included a partly developed AS3 compiler (dubbed 'Falcon') and the set of technologies. In 2013, the C toolset was open sourced by Adobe and released on. The project was formerly termed 'Alchemy' and 'Flash Runtime C Compiler', and targeted the game development market to enable C video games to run in Adobe Flash Player.Adobe has not been willing to make complete source code of the Flash Player available for development and even though alternatives such as and have been built, they are no longer under active development.
The only fully functional third-party Flash Player is the commercially available Player, which is game development designed for integration into non-Flash. Criticism Usability In some browsers, prior Flash versions have had to be uninstalled before an updated version could be installed. However, as of version 11.2 for Windows, there are now automatic updater options. Linux is partially supported, as Adobe is cooperating with Google to implement it via Chrome web browser on all Linux platforms.Mixing Flash applications with HTML leads to inconsistent behavior with respect to input handling (keyboard and mouse not working as they would in an HTML-only document). This is often done in web sites and can lead to poor user experience with the site.The February 20, 2014 update to 12.0.0.70 introduced a reported bug, producing green video with sound only. This defect is related to hardware acceleration and may be overcome by disabling hardware acceleration via the Adobe settings in Firefox (accessed by right clicking within the video) or in Internet Explorer (within the Tools settings).
This defect may be related to widely used graphics hardware, AMD Radeon HD video cards, and similar visual defects have occurred in earlier Flash updates, with the same workaround.Privacy. See also:Flash Player supports persistent local storage of data (also referred to as ), which can be used similarly to or in. Local storage in Flash Player allows websites to store non-executable data on a user's computer, such as authentication information, game high scores or saved games, server-based session identifiers, site preferences, saved work, or temporary files. Flash Player will only allow content originating from exactly the same website to access data saved in local storage.Because local storage can be used to save information on a computer that is later retrieved by the same site, a site can use it to gather user statistics, similar to how HTTP cookies and Web Storage can be used.
With such technologies, the possibility of building a profile based on user statistics is considered by some a potential. Users can disable or restrict use of local storage in Flash Player through a 'Settings Manager' page. These settings can be accessed from the Adobe website or by right-clicking on Flash-based content and selecting 'Global Settings'.Local storage can be disabled entirely or on a site-by-site basis. Disabling local storage will block any content from saving local user information using Flash Player, but this may disable or reduce the functionality of some websites, such as saved preferences or high scores and saved progress in games.Flash Player 10.1 and upward honor the settings in the latest versions of the Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari web browsers, such that no local storage data is saved when the browser's privacy mode is in use. Security.
See also:Adobe security bulletins and advisories announce security updates, but Adobe Flash Player release notes do not disclose the security issues addressed when a release closes security holes, making it difficult to evaluate the urgency of a particular update. A version test page allows the user to check if the latest version is installed, and uninstallers may be used to ensure that old-version plugins have been uninstalled from all installed browsers.In February 2010, Adobe officially apologized for not fixing a known vulnerability for over a year. In June 2010 Adobe announced a 'critical vulnerability' in recent versions, saying there are reports that this vulnerability is being actively exploited in the wild against both Adobe Flash Player, and Adobe Reader and Acrobat.
Later, in October 2010, Adobe announced another critical vulnerability, this time also affecting -based mobile devices. Android users have been recommended to disable Flash or make it only on demand. Subsequent security vulnerabilities also exposed Android users, such as the two critical vulnerabilities published in February 2013 or the four critical vulnerabilities published in March 2013, all of which could lead to arbitrary code execution.' S Internet Security Threat Report states that a in and Flash Player was the second most attacked vulnerability in 2009. The same report also recommended using to disable Flash Player usage on untrusted websites. Predicted that Adobe software, especially Reader and Flash, would be primary target for attacks in 2010. Adobe applications had become, at least at some point, the most popular client-software targets for attackers during the last quarter of 2009.
The Security Network published statistics for the third quarter of 2012 showing that 47.5% of its users were affected by one or more critical vulnerabilities. The report also highlighted that 'Flash Player vulnerabilities enable cybercriminals to bypass security systems integrated into the application.' Steve Jobs criticized the security of Flash Player, noting that 'Symantec recently highlighted Flash for having one of the worst security records in 2009'.
Adobe responded by pointing out that 'the Symantec Global Internet Threat Report for 2009, found that Flash Player had the second lowest number of vulnerabilities of all Internet technologies listed (which included both web plug-ins and browsers).' On April 7, 2016, Adobe released a Flash Player patch for a memory corruption vulnerability CVE-2016-1019 that could be used to deliver via the Magnitude exploit kit.
The vulnerability could be exploited for. Vendor lock-in Flash Player 11.2 does not play certain kinds of content unless it has been digitally signed by Adobe, following a license obtained by the publisher directly from Adobe.This move by Adobe, together with the abandonment of Flex to Apache was criticized as a way to lock out independent tool developers, in favor of Adobe's commercial tools.This has been resolved as of January 2013, after Adobe no longer requires a license or royalty from the developer. All premium features are now classified as general availability, and can be freely used by Flash applications. Apple controversy. Main article:In April 2010, at the time CEO of published an open letter explaining why Apple would not support Flash on the,.
In the letter he blamed problems with the 'openness', stability, security, performance, and integration of the Flash Player as reasons for refusing to support it. He also claimed that when one of Apple's computers crashes, 'more often than not' the cause can be attributed to Flash, and described Flash as 'buggy'. Adobe's CEO responded by saying, 'If Flash is the number one reason that Macs crash, which I'm not aware of, it has as much to do with the Apple operating system.' Steve Jobs also claimed that a large percentage of the video on the Internet is supported on iOS, since many popular video sharing websites such as YouTube have published video content in an compatible format, enabling videos to playback in mobile web browsers even without Flash Player. China specific version Starting with version 30, Adobe stopped distributing Flash Player directly to Chinese users.
Instead, they selected 2144.cn as a partner and released a special version of Flash Player on a specific website, which contains a non-closable process that collects privacy information and pops up advertisement window contents. The partnership started in about 2017, but in version 30, Adobe disabled the usage of vanilla (global) version of Flash Player in China, forcing users to use that specific version, which may pose a risk to its users due to China's. This affects users using, users using, and users using all versions of Windows, as Microsoft still directly distributes Flash Player for Internet Explorer and through in Windows 8 and upward.Release history. Macromedia Flash Player 2 (June 17, 1997). Mostly vectors and motion, some, limited audio.
Support of stereo sound, enhanced bitmap integration, buttons, the Library, and the ability to color changes. Macromedia Flash Player 3 (May 31, 1998). Added alpha transparency, licensed MP3 compression. Brought improvements to animation, playback, and publishing, as well as the introduction of simple script commands for interactivity.
Macromedia Flash Player 4 (June 15, 1999). Saw the introduction of MP3s and the Motion Tween. Initially, the Flash Player plug-in was not bundled with popular web browsers and users had to visit Macromedia website to download it; As of 2000, however, the Flash Player was already being distributed with all, and browsers. Two years later it shipped with all releases of.
The install-base of the Flash Player reached 92 percent of all Internet users. Macromedia Flash Player 5 (August 24, 2000).
A major advance in ability, with the evolution of Flash's scripting abilities as released as ActionScript. Saw the ability to customize the authoring environment's. was the first initiative from Macromedia to separate design from content in Flash files. Generator 2.0 was released in April 2001, and featured real-time server-side generation of Flash content in its Enterprise Edition.
Generator was discontinued in 2002, in favor of new technologies such as, which allows for seamless transmission of data between the server and the client, and Server. In October 2000, guru wrote a polemic article regarding usability of Flash content entitled '. (Macromedia later hired Nielsen to help them improve Flash usability.).
You need to enable Adobe Flash player in order to enjoy multimedia or video streaming on favorite browsers such as Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera or Microsoft Edge. Many people prefer to use adobe flash player due to the functions it performs. Adobe Flash is basically a multimedia software platform. Adobe flash player is used to stream and watch video, audio as well as multimedia and Rich Internet Applications (RIA) directly on a computer or supported mobile device, so you need to turn on adobe flash player to enhance the browser abilities.Why do we need Adobe Flash Player?Whenever you use adobe flash player, you gain more options on the types and the sources of the media which you host.
This enlarges your selections of content which can be provided to your visitors, and this will only be a benefit for any web manager.Adobe Flash Player is available completely free and it’s too easy to enable Adobe Flash Player capabilities on any browser. There is no need to concern about the security problems with functionality right from the time it was updated. It implies that there is no constraint to the types of things that you are capable to do with flash player, as long as you adhere to the standards which Adobe has levied. It is known that for beginner and experienced web managers, simplicity and efficiency are significant as it saves a lot of effort and time. Enable Adobe Flash PlayerIn order to enable adobe flash player, first make sure that you have already downloaded it and installed it appropriately on your Windows computer as well as upgraded it to it’s the recent version. In case you are making use of Internet Explorer on Windows 10/8, the adobe flash player is integrated, as well as its updates are presented automatically by Windows Update. For other browsers, it must be ensured that their adobe flash player is always upgraded because Adobe often needs to launch updates to patch vulnerabilities into it.
It is important to guarantee that you have configured the relevant settings, in the manner you wish to be.