Once created, SWF files can be played by the Adobe Flash Player, working either as a browser plugin or as a standalone player. Originally limited to presenting vector-based objects and images in a simple sequential manner, the format in its later versions allows audio (since Flash 3), video (since Flash 6) and many different possible forms of interaction with the end-user.

On July 1, 2008, Adobe released code which allowed the Google and Yahoo search-engines to crawl and index SWF files. However, Rob Savoye, a member of the Gnash development team, has pointed to some parts of the Flash format which remain closed.

On May 1, 2008, Adobe dropped its licensing restrictions on the SWF format specifications, as part of the Open Screen Project. The idea was to have a format which could be reused by a player running on any system and which would work with slower network connections. There are also various third party programs that can produce files in this format, such as Multimedia Fusion 2, Captivate, SWiSH Max or BannerSnack.įutureWave Software, a small company later acquired by Macromedia, originally defined the file format with one primary objective: to create small files for displaying entertaining animations. Other than Adobe products, SWFs can be built with open source Motion-Twin ActionScript 2 Compiler (MTASC), the open source Ming library, the free software suite SWFTools, the proprietary SWiSH Max2. SWF files can be generated from within several Adobe products: Flash, Flex Builder (an IDE), as well as through MXMLC, a command line application compiler which is part of the freely available Flex SDK. It may also be used for programs, commonly games, using ActionScript. SWF currently functions as the dominant format for displaying 'animated' vector graphics on the Web. Intended to be small enough for publication on the web, SWF files can contain animations or applets of varying degrees of interactivity and function. It is a partially open repository for multimedia and vector graphics, originating with FutureWave Software and then coming under the control of Adobe. The file format SWF, has variably stood for 'Small Web Format' or 'Shockwave Flash'. SWF From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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