Page 1 of 1 Flash video is a general term to describe Flash Player's ability to play video content within a Flash movie (SWF file). Since Flash Player 6, Flash designers and developers have had the tools to add video content to their Flash productions. In this FAQ, you can find quick answers to questions about Flash video.
FAQ Version: 1.0.0
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Q1: How can I encode my video files to the Flash Video (FLV) format?
Q2: What codecs are available in Flash Video (FLV) files?
Q3: What server technology should I use to deliver Flash Video content to my audience?
Q4: Do I have to use Macromedia's components to enable Flash Video in my projects?
Q5: How many versions of my Flash Video content should I create for distribution?
Q6: Can Flash Video be played across devices as well as desktop computers?
Q7: Is there any DRM, or digital rights management, for Flash Video content?
Use the Flash 8 Video Import wizard, the Flash 8 Video Encoder (ships with Flash Professional 8), or a third-party encoding utility such as Sorenson Squeeze or On2 Flix. You should always use the best source video file that you have at your disposal, such as the original capture file (MOV or AVI) from your acquisition device. Flash video content can be stored in an FLV or SWF file. The preferred method for distributing Flash video content with Flash Player 7 or higher is the FLV file format.
If you are publishing Flash Player 8-compatible SWF files from Flash 8, you can load Flash video (FLV) or embedded video (SWF) files that use the On2 VP6 codec or the Sorenson Spark codec. If you are publishing Flash Player 7 compatible SWF files, you can use Sorenson Spark for video content in FLV or SWF files. If you are publishing Flash Player 6 compatible SWF files, you can use Sorenson Spark for video content in SWF files.
NOTE: You can use FLV files for Flash Player 6 or higher if the file is streamed from a Flash Communication Server, a Flash Video Streaming Service provider, or a Flash Media Server.
With Flash video, you can distribute content from a regular web server over HTTP, just like you would any other file format displayed on a web page, such as HTML, JPEG, or GIF files. Your uploaded Flash video content can load into your Flash interface at runtime, using Macromedia components or your own custom ActionScript code. This method of delivering Flash video content is by far the simplest and most affordable. The primary drawback to using this method is that your Flash video content is potentially cached by the browser and available to the end-user. The content may also not begin to playback immediately, as the Flash Player buffers the downloading FLV file.
TIP: The MIME type for the FLV format should be enabled on the web server. For more information, refer to Paul Newman's article, "CMX Flash Video Player (Dreamweaver Extension)".
You can also upload your Flash video content in the FLV file format to a Flash Communication Server (or Flash Media Server) application or a Flash Video Streaming Service (FVSS) provider. You can buy a license to Flash Media Server and set up your own server for your business clients, or you can purchase an account from a hosting provider such as Influxis or Media Temple. If you need to service high-volume web sites with Flash video content, you should consider using a content delivery network, or CDN, such as Akamai or another FVSS provider. The benefits to using any of these technologies is that your video content is streamed in real-time — the end-user never downloads the FLV file to the browser cache. Rather, the Flash Player buffers only small portions of the video file during playback. The drawback to using this technology is that it's expensive: production licenses for a Flash Media Server start at $4500, and hosted accounts are more expensive than traditional web accounts. Flash video on these server platforms stream over a protocol called RTMP, or Real-Time Messaging Protocol, which can be blocked by larger corporate firewalls and proxies, preventing some users from watching your video content.
While the Macromedia components that ship with Flash MX 2004 and Flash Pro 8 ease the addition of Flash video to your Flash projects, you can create your own video player using intermediate-level ActionScript. The FLVPlayback component included with Flash Pro 8 is relatively small (just over 30KB) and can use a variety of player skins to tailor the look-and-feel of your Flash content. The Media components can be used for Flash Player 7 or higher movies, but are nearly twice as large (over 60KB) as the FLVPlayback component.
TIP: To learn how to build your own video player, refer to Paul Newman's series, "Creating a Custom Flash Video (FLV) Player".
Now that there are two codecs available for Flash video files, you may decide to encode your video content across several FLV (or SWF) files. For example, you can encode your source video clip to one FLV file using the Flash Player 8 compatible On2 VP6 codec, and to another FLV file using the Flash Player 6 compatible Sorenson Spark codec. Using ActionScript, your Flash movie can detect which version of the Flash Player is running on your user's machine and load the appropriate FLV file.
You should also encode your Flash video content in multiple data rates (also known as bit rates). Most Flash video encoders feature presets that you can apply to your source video clips during the compression process. In Sorenson Squeeze, for example, you can encode your content with 56 Kbps, 112 Kbps, 256 Kbps, 384 Kbps, 512 Kbps, 768 Kbps and 1 Mbps data rates. As such, you'd have seven Flash video (FLV or SWF) files after the compression process. Using ActionScript or the SMIL format with the FLVPlayback component, you can create a Flash video playback environment that loads the appropriate Flash video file for your user's available bandwidth. Why is this important? One of the most common problems with web video is stalled playback, which can occur when not enough video has buffered into the player. By publishing several data rates, you can more easily avoid bad playback experiences.
TIP: To learn more about using multiple data rates and the SMIL format, read Robert Reinhardt's series, "Working with SMIL".
Flash video can be played on Flash Player 6 or higher, on desktop versions of the plug-in. You can also play Flash video on the Pocket PC with Flash Player 6. Adobe just announced the developer release of Flash Lite 2.0, which enables video playback on mobile devices. Unlike the desktop version of the Flash Player, though, Flash Lite 2.0 uses the native video format(s) supported by the mobile device. You can use Flash Player 6 or higher ActionScript to check the video capabilities of the playback environment, specifically the System.capabilities class. This class has several video specific properties you can check.
Flash video does not have the ability to use license keys like Windows Media files can. However, you can protect video content by streaming your videos from a Flash Media Server or FVSS provider.
Most high quality web video is produced by high-end film and video companies, where the source video is broadcast quality, acquired with professional video cameras. Moreover, such footage is well-lit and composed by a cinematographer. Regardless of which codec you use with Flash video, your results will always be better if your original content is fit for broadcast television or film. At a minimum, you should shoot your content with a digital tape format, such as miniDV, DVCam, or DVC Pro.
Use multiple data rates with your Flash video content. Refer to Question 5.
With Flash Player 8 compatible Flash video, you can use the On2 VP6 codec's alpha channel feature to add a video mask to your content. You need to create the alpha channel in another video editing application, such as Adobe After Effects or Adobe Premiere. Once you have a QuickTime file (MOV) with an alpha channel, you can process the source video file with a Flash 8 video encoding utility to create the video transparency in the final FLV file.
TIP: To learn more about creating a video mask for chroma key video footage, read Tom Green's tutorials, "Create a Talking Head Video Using Adobe Premiere Pro and Flash Professional 8" and "Creating an Alpha Video in Adobe After Effects".
We will be adding to this list as questions arise. If you have a question you would like to see answered, please use the feedback form below to send it to us.
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Keywords
Flash Video, Flash, Flash Professional 8
