SWF (Small Web Format) is a proprietary video format used for flash animation, vector graphics, audio and video content on the Internet.
The advantage of the format is its small size due to this video in SWF format is faster to load and play, and vector images are scaled without distortion.
The scope of use is quite diverse - banners, websites, lightweight games (for example, in social networks), presentations, cartoons.
Opening SWF files with a browser
Almost any browser can be used to open SWF files ( Google Chrome, , , Safari, etc.).
However, it should be noted that the browser must have a Flash player installed. In some, it is installed by default, i.e. by installing the browser, you also install the Flash player.
Note! In the process of choosing an installation, the installer will also offer to install free antivirus- McAfee. There is nothing wrong with this, but if an antivirus is already installed on the system, installing another one can lead to unstable system operation.
To open a SWF file, just drag it (drag 'n' drop) into the browser window. If the file does not open, you may need to update your browser's Flash player.
The advantage of opening SWF files with a browser is to quickly view the file without having to download a special software(as a rule, the Flash player is already installed in the browser).
The disadvantage of viewing SWF files in a browser is the relatively low functionality (the ability to pause, rewind, stop the video sequence), compared to players.
Opening SWF files with Flash Player
There are quite a few free and paid Flash players that can be found on the Internet. The functionality of free players, in fact, does not differ from paid counterparts.
Quite a popular program, although no, this is not just a program, but a whole multimedia combine from Korean developers, which, in addition to viewing SWF files, supports most modern multimedia formats.
This function is realized thanks to the impressive library of codecs built into the player.
Gnash (a word derived from GNU and Flash) is a player and plugin released under the GPL license to replace proprietary software ( Adobe flash).
The goal of the Gnash developers is to bring the project's functionality as close as possible to the proprietary player from Adobe.
Works in UNIX environment.
Swfdec is a free file player released under the GPL license.
It is presented as a plugin for browsers that support the NSPlugin interface ( Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Konqueror) and the player. Works in UNIX- and BSD-like operating systems.
Editing SWF files
Editing SWF files may be necessary when making small adjustments to the finished website page, in which case you do not need to use the programs in which the file was created.
Using the free SwiX editor, you can make changes directly to the SWF file, without losing the original quality (only the edited component is changed), all you need to do is open the file, make and save the changes.
The editor interface is quite simple and consists of a toolbar, a resource catalog and an xml editor.
The key features of the program are the Russian-language interface, stability of working with large files, the ability to compile / decompile files, as well as the presence of an editor with syntax highlighting, code formatting and auto-completion function.
Paid editor Flash Decompiler Trillix with a Russian-language interface.
In addition to actually decompiling and editing SWF files, it allows you to convert a SWF file to FLA format, and SWF elements (audio, video, image, text, forms, frames) into various formats for the purpose of their subsequent analysis and modification.
The editor has a batch file conversion function that allows you to select a batch of files to convert, and you can do more useful things.
One of key features this editor is the ability to view changes "on the fly", does not require additional installation of Flash Studio and Adobe Flash.
The price for a single-user license is $ 80.
The SWF file editor Sothink SWF Quicker is a powerful enough application that allows you not only to edit, but also to create colorful, animated banners, flash games, videos and much more.
Newbies can use the wizard to create a project, with a choice of one of the many templates.
Any element of the SWF file can be edited with the help of the editor.
The features of the program include the presence of an editor with code highlighting, the use of Flash filters to add special visual effects to objects.
And also the application of the morphing effect to photos and text, the ability to create vector graphics and texts using the WYSIWYG environment, a large number of built-in animation effects.
The license price is $ 85.
SWF file extension
How to open swf files? Will help the google browser extension which can be found in the google chrome store
Probably everyone has seen some kind of advertising animation on the sites, when you hover the mouse cursor over which something starts to change in it. Or played online in applications / games on sites (social networks or others). Even if you go to this site using a non-existent link of the type, you will be taken to approximately the same page, created on the basis of flash animation technology. And they have a file with the SWF extension. This article describes what this file is, how to open it (for example, play a toy offline) and how to change it (for fans).
What is a .swf file?
SWF file - Flash animation created with Adobe flash or another program for developing flash applications. Flash movies can contain both plain text and vector, bitmap images, 3D graphics (limited), audio, video, scripts in ActionScript.
The Flash platform has become very widespread in the field of creation interactive applications... These can be flash cartoons, games, videos (.FLV format files), websites created in whole or in part using this technology.
Well, then follow the instructions from the site.
To open it, start the browser (it is desirable to create a new tab in it), "take" LMB for your swf file and drag it to the browser.
Option 2
Through the program.
There are 2 good programs to open such files - this (the office did not find the site) and.
As for the second - it is free, but English-speaking and the developers have hammered something, they stopped releasing updates to it and it will go for XP at most.
If you get lost on the manufacturer's website and don't find how to download this program:
select the Downloads tab in the top menu
SWF is a special format designed specifically for web applications and use in the Internet environment. This is a format for storing various kinds of animation, graphic content and even short video and audio files of small size.
The abbreviation "swf" originally stood for "ShockWave Format". Now, to avoid confusion with other flash applications, this format is called “Small Web Format”.
Unfortunately, open this file with standard tools it is not possible to view Windows images. The situation here is very similar to the GIF format, which, although displayed as an image, cannot start the animation. So how can you view this kind of files?
Browsers
The first and easiest way, which absolutely does not require additional installation of any means, is to open desired file in any . Almost all modern means for Internet surfing provide support for the "Flash" technology.
Launching a swf file using a browser is simple:
- Double click on the required swf file.
- If there is no suitable launcher available, a window will open informing you about the failure to open the item. You need to click on the option for choosing a program among those that are available on your computer and confirm the action.
- The system will show a window for selecting software. Here you can select a tool from the suggested recommended ones or expand the list of "Other programs".
- In the absence of the required browser among the applications offered by the system, you can find the one you need manually. Click "Browse" to find a user-friendly browser in the computer files.
- The system will offer using a special window to select the directory of the browser on the computer. Here you need to get to the location of a particular browser in memory. Browser folders on most devices are located on local disk"C:" in a special system section of program files ("Program Files").
- We find here the folder of the software we need, and in its main part we are looking for a file with the name of the application and the extension ".exe". Double click on this file, the system will return to the previous window, in which we press "OK".
Done! The browser will open our file, and henceforth all swf files will be associated with this program.
Adobe flash player
The second available and obvious option is to use software products from "Adobe", since this particular company on this moment- the main developer of any software with Flash technology. The most common product that everyone has is.
So, to open this type of file in this program, you need:
Done! The file will open and be played by Flash Player.
On a note! Another more quick way- select the required file and right-click. In the contextual submenu, select the "Open with" sub-item, and then select the Flash player in it.
Using a media player
For this method, any video player for Windows is suitable - the most popular KMPlayer, the widespread VLC media player, or the slightly less well-known GOM player. However, the list of suitable programs is quite large.
Let's take a look at the example of a KM player. The sequence of actions is simple:
On a note! You can also run the file in the player using context menu... However, this will only work if the program is present in this submenu.
Video - How to open a SWF file
a situation often arises when it is necessary to make edits to the finished "creation" without having the original FLA file. It can be anything you want: changing text, pictures, sounds, etc., while in some cases it is not at all necessary to resort to exactly the tools with which the file was created. The main difficulty lies in the fact that the SWF file is already a compiled FLA file. In the presence of the latter, the user has the opportunity to see the entire structure of the file, while SWF contains a minimum of information. After compilation, the SWF file can be imported into Flash, but without additional software, its structure is unlikely to be restored. Accordingly, to make edits, you need to decompile the SWF file.
This situation gave rise to a lot of programs, such as: Sothink SWF Decompiler, Eltima Flash Decompiler Trillix, Power Flash Decompiler and many more different utilities. In this article, we will give examples and parameters of some decompilers, as well as consider the decompilation process itself using the example of the Sothink SWF Decompiler program.
Sothink SWF Decompiler is a program for capturing and decompiling a SWF file into FLA, as well as for extracting various resources from it. The program allows you to extract images, fonts, sounds, etc. from ready-made SWF files and is considered one of best programs for decompilation.
For a person familiar with such a system, it will not be difficult to use the program to "disassemble" and then "reassemble" the SWF file. For amateurs, this can be a daunting task. So what does the decompilation process look like in Sothink SWF Decompiler?
Let's start with the interface. Actually, the main window of the program looks like this:
Price: 79.99 $
Capabilities:
- The ability to search in source code Action Script - Convert SWF to FLA and to FLEX
- Extract SWF from EXE
- Preview and Export File Resources
- Export ActionScript file to AS and HTML formats
- There is a player for playing flash files
- Detailed view of the properties of elements in a Flash movie
- Supports IE cache scanning and listing all Flash files you've viewed
Price: $ 79.95
Capabilities:
- Supports Action Script v. 2.0 and v.3.0
- The ability to export flash movies to formats such as AVI, MPEG, etc.
- Possibility of detailed settings for converting SWF to FLA
- Ability to decompile and convert multiple flash movies at the same time
- Ability to edit file objects without converting to FLA
- Extracting file resources in various formats
- There is a built-in player for Flash files
- The ability to save Flash videos online
- User-friendly interface: scalable, toolbar ribbon
Price: $ 44.95
- Converting SWF to FLV and EXE
- The ability to export data from a flash file to a FLA file:
- Export sounds and videos from a flash file
- Export text, shapes, buttons, images, fonts and frames from a flash file
- Exporting scripts from a flash file
- Browsing and previewing assets before exporting
- Support for editing dynamic text in flash file
- Support for moving images in flash file
- View detailed information about each object from the flash movie
What else would you like to add about flash decompilers? At first glance, working with them is quite simple, and to a certain extent it is. However, when decompiling SWF files, difficulties can arise, since when using such programs, errors in the code may occur that will have to be corrected "manually". And for a user unfamiliar with the Action Script language, this can be a very difficult task.
Free program for creating flash videos of almost any degree of complexity! It includes almost all the necessary tools for everyday work with flash and can be used by both beginners and professionals. The main difference and advantage of this program is the support for ActionScript 2.0, without which it is simply impossible to imagine the creation of professional flash content.
It seems that Dima Bilan is right when he says that the impossible is possible :). Not so long ago, web developers had to either pirate or pay quite a lot of money for the ability to work with flash animation. And finally, the hour came when the third full-fledged option appeared - to use a free flash-editor.
Earlier on our site there was already one similar program, but its drawback was some obsolescence, a limited set of tools and the lack of support for the ActionScript programming language, which is so necessary for creating some kind of functional sites, games, etc.
Today I will introduce you to a completely modern flash editor, which can practically compete on an equal footing with the famous Adobe Flash - Vectorian giotto.
Comparison of Vectorian Giotto with its paid counterpart
As you can see, the developers of Vectorian Giotto did their best and tried to fit into their program the maximum possible set of functions similar to Adobe Flash. In addition, most of the hotkeys are the same, so those who are used to working with Edobovskiy editor will have no difficulty in switching to the free Vectorian Giotto platform!
Well, and for "dessert" in free editor there is also something that the "big brother" sometimes lacks - a built-in library of animation effects that will please especially those who create flash banners.
Preparation for work
To get started with Vectorian Giotto, we need to download the archive with the installer, which, by the way, weighs only 8 megabytes! When the archive is downloaded, open it and run the file VectorianGiotto.exe.
Despite the fact that the installation (and the program itself, sadly :)) is English, it should not cause any difficulties, since it is not necessary to change anything in the default settings. Just click the "Next" button several times and wait for the end of the installation process;).
First acquaintance with the interface
At the end of the installation, if we have not changed anything in the standard settings, the Vectorian Giotto working window will appear in full screen in front of us:
As I already said, the program interface is in English, so in order to avoid misunderstandings and misinterpretations when performing further actions described in the article, I would like to introduce some conceptual apparatus :). Let's start, as usual, from top to bottom and left to right.
Menu bar. This is the panel that contains all the menus of the Vectorian Giotto program. When working with animation, you may need such sections as "File" (for saving and exporting your animation to SWF), "View" (for setting the display parameters of the workspace), "Modify" (for managing the parameters of the current document and working with the library effects) and "Window" (for setting the displayed modules and program panels).
Main toolbar. The buttons for managing project actions and the animation playback panel are moved here.
Drawing panel (occupies the entire left part of the program window). Here you will find all the necessary tools to create any desired objects for your animation, as well as buttons that allow you to adjust the parameters of the necessary tools.
Storyboard (or timeline). Allows you to manage cells for frames and created layers.
Color control panel. With its help, you can quickly change the color of previously created shapes. Also serves to select the type of filling of objects in your animation (solid, gradient, etc.).
Workspace. It is a virtual sheet of "paper" intended for drawing your animations :).
ActionScript editor. If you need to create not simple banners, but something more complex, including buttons and all kinds of interactive objects, then you cannot do without a script editor.
Clip structure panel. Displays all the shapes that are "in the frame" and allows you to quickly switch between them and control their sequence.
Properties panel. Each object in the flash has certain properties. This panel is used to manage them.
Transformation panel. Allows you to quickly resize and position the selected animation element.
Library of elements. It is a list of created or imported objects that can be (and repeatedly!) Inserted into animation.