How you choose to deploy your video determines how you create your video content, and how you integrate it for use with Flash. You can incorporate video into Flash in the following ways:

Streaming video content

Lets you host video files using Flash Media Server, a server solution optimized to deliver streaming, real-time media. Import video clips stored locally into your Flash documents, and later upload them to the server, to more easily assemble and develop Flash content. To control video playback and provide intuitive controls for users to interact with the video, use the new FLVPlayback component or ActionScript™. Host your own Flash Media Server, or use a hosted Flash Video Streaming Service (FVSS). Adobe has partnered with several content delivery network (CDN) providers to offer hosted services for delivering on-demand Flash Video across high-performance, reliable networks. Built with Flash Media Server and integrated directly into the delivery, tracking, and reporting infrastructure of the CDN network, FVSS provides the most effective way to deliver Flash Video to the largest possible audience without the hassle of setting up and maintaining your own streaming server hardware and network.

Progressively downloading video from a web server

If you don’t have access to Flash Media Server or FVSS, you can still download video from an external source when you use progressive downloading. Progressively downloading a video clip from a web server doesn’t provide the same real-time performance that Flash Media Server does; however, you can use relatively large video clips, and keep the size of your published SWF files to a minimum. To control video playback and provide intuitive controls for users to interact with the video, use the new FLVPlayback component or ActionScript.

Importing embedded video

Import video clips into Flash as embedded files. An embedded video file becomes part of the Flash document. For this reason, you can only import short-duration video clips.

Importing video in QuickTime format

Import video clips in QuickTime format as linked files. Flash documents that contain linked QuickTime video must be published in QuickTime format. A linked video file does not become part of the Flash document. Instead, the document maintains a pointer to the linked file.

Importing FLV files in the Library

Import video clips in Flash Video (FLV) format from Adobe® directly into Flash. When you import FLV files, you use the encoding options already applied to the files. You do not need to select encoding options during import.

You can control the playback of video files in the following ways:

Using the FLVPlayback component

Lets you quickly add a full-featured FLV or mp3 playback control to your Flash movie and provides support for both progressive downloading and streaming FLV files. FLVPlayback lets you easily create intuitive video controls for users to control video playback, and apply premade skins, or apply your own custom skins to the video interface.

Controlling external video playback using ActionScript

Play back external FLV files in a Flash document at runtime using the NetConnection and NetStream ActionScript objects.

You can use video behaviors (prewritten ActionScript scripts) to control video playback.

Controlling video playback in the Timeline

To control video playback, write custom ActionScript.

For video tutorials about working with video in Flash, see the following:

• Using video in Flash: www.adobe.com/go/vid0136

• Using Flash Video Encoder: www.adobe.com/go/vid0138

• Creating content for Adobe After Effects: www.adobe.com/go/vid0139

For a text tutorial about using video in Flash, see Building a Video Player on the Flash Tutorials page at www.adobe.com/go/learn_fl_tutorials.