What is Flash?
Flash by Adobe is an application development platform that is designed to facilitate the production of multimedia projects and rich internet and desktop applications that use video, animation, graphics, audio, or any combination of the four.
If you want a more in-depth understanding of this topic, check out the FAQ section below:
Question #1: What can I make with it?
As we have seen in the previous section, you can use Adobe Flash to create multimedia projects and rich applications. Examples include:
- Animations
- Games for web, desktop, and mobile
- Video players for browsers
Question #2: What is the difference between Adobe Flash and Adobe Flash Player?
The main difference between Adobe Flash and Adobe Flash Player is that the former is the development platform while the latter is the tool used to read multimedia projects and rich applications developed using Flash.
Flash Player comes in two versions: a standalone player and a browser plugin. The standalone player, as the name suggests, is a player that runs on its own. In contrast, the browser plugin needs to be installed into your browser of choice to work.
Once the browser plugin is installed, your browser will be able to read, render, and the content without the need for a standalone player.
Question #3: Is it unsafe?
While Adobe Flash itself is safe, the Adobe Flash Player browser plugin has been known to be vulnerable to all sorts of security threats such as hackers and malware. This is exactly why despite its popularity, most modern browsers have started to automatically block Flash content from running. You can still unblock it if you want to, but you do so at your own risk.
In addition to the security risks, however, Adobe Flash is also buggy and extremely resource hungry—which is why operating systems, websites, and web browsers have started to pull support for it.
YouTube, for example, used to use it to play videos but has since made the move to HTML5 because the former was just too inefficient. It put too much unnecessary strain on users’ computers.
Question #4: Can I still use Adobe Flash after 2020?
Technically, yes, you can still use Adobe Flash after 2020, but Adobe itself has officially retired the technology and is actively trying to block the content from running. The company has also removed all download links on its website to discourage anyone from using it starting in 2021.
But if for some reason, you really need to access its content despite all the risks and drawbacks associated with doing so, there are things you can do:
- Use Ruffle
- Use a tool such as VLC
- Explore The Internet Archive’s Flash Software Library
- Explore BlueMaxima’s Flashpoint Project
Let us take a closer look at each one:
Ruffle is a player emulator that works just like the now-defunct player but without all the security risks. You can use it to access the content safely on your desktop and mobile devices using the standalone Ruffle player. Or if you have a website that still uses it, you simply can install the web version to instantly unlock all content without any additional configuration.
VLC is a media player you can use to read FLV videos. Alternatively, you can use a multimedia converter such as Handbrake to convert all your FLV files to MP4.