What is Adobe Flash Player | FAQ

General questions

What is the difference between Adobe Animate CC and Adobe Flash Player software?

Adobe Animate CC (formerly Flash Professional) is an application for developing rich content, user interfaces and web applications. Adobe Flash Player is a multiplatform client runtime. Web users must download and instal Flash Player to view and interact with SWF content.

What is the difference between Adobe AIR and Flash Player?

The two Adobe Flash Platform runtimes are Flash Player and Adobe AIR. Flash Player is a highly expressive cross-platform runtime that works consistently across browsers. Flash Player delivers innovation within the browser, while AIR, a superset of Flash Player, enables the delivery of stand-alone applications that run outside the browser. Together, they provide a consistent runtime for delivering content that can easily move between the browser and native operating system context.

What is the difference between Flash Player and Adobe Shockwave Player?

Flash Player and Shockwave Player software are both free web players from Adobe. Each has a distinct purpose:

Flash Player displays content created with Flash Professional, such as web application front ends, high-impact website user interfaces, interactive online advertising and animations and rich Internet applications (RIAs) created using Flex.
Shockwave Player displays content created with Adobe Director® software such as high-performance multiuser games, interactive 3D product simulations, online entertainment and training applications. By using extensions, developers can extend the capabilities of Shockwave Player to play back customised-built applications.

Why is the performance of Flash Player different on each mobile device?

The device ecosystem is experiencing a period of rapid change and innovation, with a continuous stream of new hardware, operating systems and browsers coming to market. The dependencies can be complex to manage at times, particularly when multiple companies are working together to deliver an optimised and integrated experience for customers.

Which browsers and platforms currently distribute Flash Player?

To provide consumers with an almost seamless SWF content viewing experience, Flash Player is free to license for distribution on desktop operating systems and can be distributed royalty-free on devices by members of the Open Screen Project™. Learn more about the Open Screen Project.

In what languages is Flash Player available?

Flash Player is available in Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish on most major browser platforms.

How can I learn more about developing content and applications for Flash Player?

Visit the Flash Player Developer Centre for the latest articles and information on developing for the Flash Player runtime. For steps to get started building applications and content for Flash Player on mobile devices, visit the Mobile and Devices Developer Centre.

How can I request a feature for a future version of Flash Player?

We're always looking for great feature requests and we try to incorporate the best ones into each release. You can submit enhancement and feature requests for the Flash Player development team to evaluate.

How can I file a bug for Flash Player?

File any bugs in the Adobe Flash Player public bugbase and the Flash Player team will investigate accordingly.

What is the Flash Player privacy and security policy?

Read more about Flash Player security and privacy

I just received a dialogue box notifying me that a new version of Flash Player is available. What does this mean?

Periodically, Adobe updates Flash Player with new features or fixes to minor problems. The Automatic Notification and Update feature allows Adobe to automatically notify you when an updated version of Flash Player is available so that you can instal it straightaway.

Updates to Flash Player help ensure that Flash Player works properly and may contain important security changes. Adobe recommends that you update to the latest version of Flash Player whenever a new version is available, especially when a security update is mentioned. Although you may choose whether to receive automatic notification of updates and how frequently to receive them, Adobe is not responsible for errors or security problems that occur because the version of Flash Player on your computer is not the most current one available. To learn more, please visit our Background updates help page.

Support

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I'm having trouble installing Flash Player. Where can I get support?

Visit Flash Player support for help with installation.

How do I deploy my SWF content on the Internet?

To provide a better user experience for your site, you can implement Flash Player detection when embedding SWF content. For more information about detection and installation, visit the Flash Player Developer Centre. Adobe also recommends the open source SWFObject project for embedding SWF content.

How can I tell if I have the latest version of Flash Player installed and whether it is working correctly?

Adobe provides online testing for Flash Player on the testing page. This page will tell you which version is currently installed and provides a list of the latest versions for each platform.

Where can I learn about changes to the Flash Player security model that might affect my content?

Information about security changes in Flash Player can be found in the Flash Player Developer Centre.

How much does Font Folio 11.1 cost?

How do I order Font Folio 11.1?

I own a previous version of Font Folio. How much does it cost to upgrade to Font Folio 11.1?

Licensing

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Can I license Flash Player for distribution on CD or for my company's intranet?

If you've created CD or intranet content that depends on Flash Player, you can distribute the software via CD or intranet so your users won't have to download it from the Internet. View Flash Player licensing options for more information.

Can I license Flash Player for distribution on digital home devices?

Please contact efbiz@adobe.com for more information about licensing Flash Player and AIR for TV for digital home devices.

What is the SWF file format specification?

The SWF file format delivers vector graphics, text, video and sound over the Internet and is supported by Flash Player and Adobe AIR. The SWF file format is available as an open specification to create products and technology that implement the specification.

What is the FLV/F4V video file format specification?

The FLV/F4V open specification documents the file formats for storing media content used to deliver streaming audio and video for playback in Flash Player and Adobe AIR. FLV and F4V are the de facto standard for web video today.

What are the licence terms for Flash Player?

Read the software licence agreement for full licence terms.

Why are the current distribution pages and links being decommissioned?

Third parties have been spoofing the Flash Player download pages in an attempt to spread malware. We are enabling Adobe ID log in on the page in order to improve security and ensure that only licensed users have access to the distribution binaries.

I don't have a Flash Player Distribution licence, how do I download the binaries?

Please apply for a new licence using the Flash Player Distribution application.

When are the existing download pages being decommissioned?

https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/distribution3.html will be decommissioned in Fall, 2016.

https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/distribution4.html will be decommissioned on 31 March, 2017.

I applied for a Flash Player distribution licence within the last year, how do I access the new download page?

In order to access this new page, you will need an Adobe ID that is registered with the same email address that was used to sign up for the Flash Player licence. You can create a new Adobe ID here.

I use Microsoft System Centre Updates Publisher/Microsoft Systems Management Server to distribute Flash Player. What changes can I expect?

No changes are being made to the TAXI file hosting on the Adobe servers.

These changes are breaking my Flash Player distribution workflow, who do I contact?

Please contact us via the Adobe Flash Player forums here: https://forums.adobe.com/community/flashplayer

What if I need further information on one of these questions or don't see my question listed here?

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