Editing Adobe Flash (section)

===SWF===
{{Main|SWF}}
Flash movie files were in the ''SWF'' format, traditionally called "ShockWave Flash" movies, "Flash movies", or "Flash applications", usually have a .swf [[file extension]], and may be used in the form of a web page plug-in, strictly "played" in a standalone Flash Player, or incorporated into a self-executing Projector movie (with the .exe extension in [[Microsoft Windows]]). Flash Video files<ref group="spec">[https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/devnet/flv/pdfs/video_file_format_spec_v10.pdf FLV and F4V] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923043319/http://www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/devnet/flv/pdfs/video_file_format_spec_v10.pdf |date=September 23, 2010 }}. F4V is based on the [[ISO base media file format]] standard, available as a free download at http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/index.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026005055/http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/index.html |date=October 26, 2018 }} .</ref> have a .flv file extension and are either used from within .swf files or played through a flv-aware player, such as [[VLC media player|VLC]], or [[QuickTime]] and [[Windows Media Player]] with external [[codec]]s added.

The use of vector graphics combined with program code allows Flash files to be smaller—and thus allows streams to use less [[Bandwidth (computing)|bandwidth]]—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 [[central processing unit|CPU]] 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, with video, MP3-based audio, and bitmap graphics. As of Flash Player 8, it offered two video codecs: [[On2 Technologies]] [[VP6]] and [[sorenson codec|Sorenson Spark]], and run-time [[JPEG]], Progressive JPEG, [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]], [[Graphics Interchange Format|GIF]] and (DWG) AutoCAD Drawing file (WMV) Windows Metafile capability.