SWF/FLV support in 2021?

[nima]

Hello, I couldn't find any answer to the problem, yet. There are several so called "standalone" flash players around (eg: SWF Player, SWF File Player, even the debugger projector of Adobe itself) - Irfan View's Flash Plugin being one of them.

However what I have been unable to figure out is if all these players are indeed independent, or whether they need the Flash element which is incorporated in the Widows system (folder Windows-sytem32/or/sysWOW64-Macromed-Flash-FlashUtil_ActiveX.exe).
I found this discussion here on an Adobe forum which is about Win XP, but I don't think there have been any changes in this regard:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/flash-player/how-can-i-get-flash-player-to-work-with-irfanview/td-p/8437752?profile.language=de&page=1

which would confirm my fear.

This element will be auto-destroyed by Windows via an update which can't be avoided or deleted, and the element not be reinstalled. Which would mean that also Irfan View would no longer be useful for rendering interactive swf files. Since I have one of these, I really need a correct reliable information about how exactly the Flash function of Irfan View technically works.

Anybody please be able to help me?

[Kuki Dent]

The answer is found at https://www.irfanview.com/plugins.htm
- FLASH - (version 2.2.0.1): allows IrfanView to read Flash/Shockwave/FLV format.
So flash.dll is decoding these videos and will not be affected by any Windows update.

[j7n]

When I attempt to play a FLV video with flash.dll loaded, I get an error message. The plugin is 364 KB uncompressed, and can't possibly include a video decoder or the complicated scripting that became part of Flash.

The Flash player "projector" SAFlashPlayer.exe from Adobe is standalone. It's like a "self-extractor" for complete presentations in SWF format. It does not play extracted or downloaded video.

For separate videos on Windows you can use a video player that has a FLV splitter and then plays the video stream as any other: Media Player Classic Homecinema, SMPlayer, FLVSplitter.ax. These do not depend on Windows or Adobe components.

I would not consider formats thad depend on system DLLs to be reliably supported in IrfanView.

[JendaLinda]

Adobe Flash is proprietary, it's not easy to write an independent player for it.

MPC can open SWF files directly, however I don't know what library is used.

[j7n]

Flash is mainly vector graphics with dynamic updating based on a program, so a video player is hardly suited for handling them. It will open some form of Flash sub-window, which I can do myself by running the Flash projector exe. My MPC says "Flash player for Internet Explorer is required" if I try to open an SWF file. It never occurred to me to try it before.

FLV, MP3, AAC that later became incorporated into bloated Flash can be played by a video player.

One could also try remultiplexing FLV files into Matroska, which is more widely supported and future proof, using MkvToolNix. This process is fast and without loss of quality, and should work with recent FLV files containing MPEG formats.

[RottenImp]

In case somebody wants to experiment:

https://archive.org/download/flashplayerarchive/pub/flashplayer/installers/archive/

They say that 32.0.0.371 is the last version without a timebomb.

[JendaLinda]

You may still use a standalone player (projector) from Adobe for playing SWF files, it's independent on system plugins. Just search for "flash player projector".

FLV format is supported in many video players, including MPC and VLC.

[Ponch]

Flash plugin remotely killed today.

Post merged to plugin forum thread

The Adobe Flash Player site says it stops working today 12/1/2121 and indeed, I got an SWF game that I could play in the Flash player, in IrfanView (also in Media players like MPC or others) until this morning (I played yesterday evening). It is now just showing an Adobe Flash logo, and nothing else. Same in MPC. On another PC that is offline (thank God, XP and IrfanView 4.33), the same file still plays. Of course the file has not been modified. I updated IrfanView to 4.56 (64bit, Windows 10) last week and I also updated Flash... Was that my mistake?
How did they kill it? Is there a way back? Thanks.

I was about to post a bug for that Flash player (the file closes when you minimize IrfanView) but if it's dead anyway, there is no point.

[Ponch]

Well, SWF files don't play anymore from today. Check it for yourself. I should not have updated Flash on the 1st of January.

[JendaLinda]

The standalone Flash projector is still working as expected.

[Ponch]

Thank you.

[Reveen]

The standalone Flash projector is still working as expected.

It does but not for all types of SWF.

There is a file I use on a daily basis which only worked in Swiff Player prior to the 12th - a calculator where the screen changed based on option selected. I am not sure what the term would be, it wasn't a game or movie. Most players can't seem to handle it.

[JendaLinda]

The Flash Player projector seems to be a sufficient replacement for Flash playback in IrfanView.

I have no idea what specific application are you using, but the author of the application should have ported it to a different technology. The end of support of Flash player was announced a long time ago.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

How did they kill it? Is there a way back? Thanks.

That is what I am wondering. I never even installed Flash Player on my new PC, and only just found that both IrfanView and Media Player Classic just show a useless symbol instead of the content (a symbol that does not respond to either mouse click or hover events). There is nothing in the IrfanView FAQ about this, or any notification. I did not realise that Adobe had the power to reach out and terminate standalone players, and indeed I have updated nothing in relation to IrfanView or its plugins lately: the embedded Flash plugin has commit suicide in both programs.

Since it has not occurred on an offline PC, that suggests it was not timebombed, meaning that there was some kind of phone-home behaviour that allowed it to detect when it could be killed. Possibly Adobe intended to allow them to discontinue their permission for anyone to even own such a player, and they used this mechanism to terminate it.

[j7n]

Browser plugins received the "timebomb" a few versions ago. An offline PC probably did not update the Flash plugin and is still on an older version which continues to work. IrfanView was not a standalone program. It may appear that way, but the complexity of Flash requires code from Adobe to work, and all IrfanView does is call the MSIE/ActiveX browser plugin to do the work.

I think we should avoid using programs that rely on system codecs this way, as those can get switched out unintentionally. This also happens with patented next-gen image formats.

For the time being, Adobe offers a truly standalone player. Choose the projector without debug.

https://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/debug_downloads.html

Older versions of Flash player for advanced users can also be found on Windows Legacy Update. Click Catalog and type "Flash" in the search box below "PC98". It is a website operated by an MSFN member, a fan of Windows 2000.

http://win2k.org/wlu/wluen.htm

One can do a special dance to enable the latest version to work, or apparently seek out a special Flash player for China. This is unreasonable, as older versions continue to work just fine. And the "security" issues are not a big deal if you only run selected, tested applications.

https://msfn.org/board/topic/174085-newest-adobe-flash-and-shockwave-and-java-too/page/40/

https://forum.doom9.org/showpost.php?p=1933403&postcount=31