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Overview of streaming with Flash Media Server 3

Supported file types

Flash Media Server 3 is completely backwards-compatible with Flash Player 6 or later, Adobe AIR, and Flash Lite 3 clients. Additional formats and features are supported with newer versions of Flash Player (see Table 1). FMS 3 continues support for FLV and MP3 media and AMF 0 for data messaging. Combined with Flash Player 9,0,115,0, FMS 3 now expands support for an industry-standard digital video format, MPEG-4.

Table 1. File formats supported by Flash Media Server 3

Format Type Container Flash Player minimum Usual codec pairing
Sorenson Spark Video FLV 6, 7, 8, 9+ Nellymoser / MP3
On2 VP6 Video FLV 8, 9+
Flash Lite 3
Nellymoser / MP4
H.264* Video MPEG-4: MP4, M4V, F4V, 3GPP 9,0,115,0+ AAC+ / MP3
Nellymoser Audio FLV 6+ Spark / On2
MP3 Audio MP3 6+
Flash Lite 3
Spark / On2
AAC+ / HE-AAC / AAC v1 / AAC v2 Audio MPEG-4: MP4, M4V, F4V, 3GPP 9,0,115,0+ H.264
AMF 0 Data   6, 7, 8, 9+
Flash Lite 3
 
AMF 3 Data   8, 9+  

Note: H.264 playback in Flash Player supports most popular profiles including Base, Main, and HiP. The F4V format will be a new format moving forward that is a subset of MPEG-4 ISO 14496-10 and AAC+ (ISO 14496-3). For more information on H.264/AAC support, see the Flash Player 9 Update FAQ.

To use H.264/AAC in Flash without any ActionScript, the updated FLVPlayback component will be required and is available as an update to Flash CS3 Professional. This update will also be required to use enhanced RTMP (RTMPE). Without the FLVPlayback component, developers will use ActionScript 1.0, 2.0, or 3.0 to create experiences with H.264.