FLV file and SWF file

Question

Hello everyone,

Just want to confirm whether my current understanding is correct,

1. we can use Flash Player browser plug-in to play both FLV and SWF file;
2. FLV file contains only video/audio, but SWF file could contain not only video/audio but also other information (picture/animaton/etc.).

thanks in advance, George

Answer 1

flash player cannot directly play FLV files, you need a FLV player to do that. But you are basically correct .. FLV is a video format like h.264 whereas SWF is an envelope format and can pretty much hold anything

Answer 2

we can use Flash Player browser plug-in to play both FLV and SWF file;

Yes. From documentation for FLV:

[...] Flash Player can also play FLV files directly with MIME type video/x-flv. An FLV file encodes synchronized audio and video streams.

As for your other question:

FLV file contains only video/audio, but SWF file could contain not only video/audio but also other information (picture/animaton/etc.)

Yes. Again, I'd refer you back to the documentation:

The SWF file format delivers vector graphics, text, video, and sound over the Internet and is supported by Adobe® Flash® Player and Adobe AIR™ software. Flash Player already reaches over 98% of Internet-enabled desktops and more than 800 million handsets and mobile devices.

The SWF file format is designed to be an efficient binary delivery format, not a format for exchanging graphics between graphics editors.

Other questions:

One more questions, how to use Adobe Flash player manually?

What happens when you double click on a SWF file on your system? Typically, flash player standalone version should come up and play the SWF file. You have to figure out where the executable resides on your system.

Any ideas about how to make Adobe Flash Player play the flv file file so that I can have a try?

You can drag and drop your flv on the standalone player.

Answer 3

Hi, George.
With Adobe Flash Player plugin, you can view SWF on web browser, but not FLV.
For FLV needs to be exported to a web-based flv player.
So to put FLV to web page and play it, you just need a FLV player.
SWF can be a FLV player that control the playing of FLV files.
Moyea Web Player is a good flash video player creator, you can try it.

Answer 4

Just a heads up since I ran into this problem today and just in case anyone runs across this.

Windows Server 2003 and IIS do not know how to handle FLV files properly. So if you had a SWF that pulls in FLV's, it's not going to work.

You need to load up IIS, right click the local computer, properties, MIME TYPES. And add this:

extension: .flv MIME: flv-application/octet-stream

Answer 5

I find a website:http://www.flashconverterformac.com/articles/flv-to-swf-converter-mac/, there you will find: Difference between FLV and SWF,How to play FLV and SWF on mac, How to convert FLV to SWF on mac.