Changes

! colspan="6"|Desktop / Plugin <ref group=N name=plugin>Plugin versions of these players require a browser that supports NPAPI/PPAPI.</ref>|-|Adobe Flash Player|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|Web}}<ref group=N name=plugin />

|Reference ||{{✗}} ||{{✗~}} ||{{✓}}|-|[https://github.com/vidkidz/waflash WAFlash]|align<ref group=left|{{Icon|Web}}|[https://clubpenguinadvancedN>Adobe versions discontinued.githubHarman versions currently maintained for enterprise customers only.io/waflash-demo</ Web]|High ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ref> ||{{✓}}

|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|Web}}|[https://githubruffle.com/ruffle-rs/ruffle/releases #downloads Nightly builds]|Mid ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓~}}<small> (WIP)</small>

|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|Web}}|[https://github.com/lightspark/lightspark/releases 0.8.6.1]|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{~}}<ref group=N name=pluginsmall>Web version is only available as an NPAPI(WIP)</PPAPI plugin, and is therefore not OSsmall>|-agnostic|[https://gnu.<org/software/ref>gnash GNU Gnash]|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux}}|[https://githubwww.gnu.comorg/lightsparksoftware/lightsparkgnash/releases download.html 0.8.510]|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}|-|[http://tulrich.com/textweb.pl?path=geekstuff/gameswf.txt GameSWF]|Mid align=left|{{Icon|Windows|macOS|Linux}}|[https://sourceforge.net/projects/tu-testbed/files/demos/gameswf-2009-08-08/ 2009-08-08]|{{✓}} ||{{✓✗}} ||{{~✗}}

|[https://swf2jsweb.comarchive.org/web/20090116113151/http:/en/ swf2jsswfdec.freedesktop.org/wiki swfdec]|align=left|{{Icon|Linux|Web}}|[https://githubweb.comarchive.org/swf2jsweb/20090116113151/http://swfdec.freedesktop.org/swf2js JavaScript file download/swfdec/0.8/swfdec-0.8.4.tar.gz 0.8.4]|{{?✓}} ||{{✓✗}} ||{{✗}} |-! colspan="6"|{{~}}HTML5 / WebAssembly

|[https://leaningtech.com/cheerpx-for-flash/ CheerpX for Flash]Ruffle|alignrowspan=left|"7" {{Icon|Webna}}|[https://docs.leaningtechgithub.com/cheerpx-forruffle-flashrs/Changelog Version 31ruffle git]|? ||{{✗✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗~}}<small> (WIP)</small>

|{{?✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓~}}<small> (WIP)</small>|-|[https://github.com/vidkidz/waflash WAFlash]| {{na}}|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{~}}|-|[https://swf2js.com/en/ swf2js]|[https://github.com/swf2js/swf2js 0.7.8]|{{~}} ||{{✗}} ||{{~}}

|[https://gnuleaningtech.orgcom/softwarecheerpx-for-flash/gnash GNU GnashCheerpX for Flash]|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux}}|[https://wwwdocs.gnuleaningtech.orgcom/softwarecheerpx-for-flash/gnash/download.html 0.8.10Changelog Version 34]|Low ||{{✓✗}} ||{{✗✓}} ||{{✗}}

|{{?}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓✗}} ||{{✗}}

|Low ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}

====Hybrid====;''Common aspects''Ruffle<small> ([https://ruffle.rs/demo/ web demo])</small>:A Rust-based player that targets both HTML5 and desktop. Notably used by a bunch of veteran Flash content sites including [https://www.newgrounds.com Newgrounds], [https://homestarrunner.com Homestar Runner] and [https://www.coolmathgames.com CoolMathGames], and also by the Internet Archive''Pretty much all s [https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_flash Flash library]. By 2021, it had progressed to the point where it can run many early Flash games, including the original Flash version of [https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/59593/format/flash?emulate=flash Alien Hominid]; support for newer AVM2-based files is now underway, although still far from complete. Unlike the other HTML5 emulators listed here are specifically designed to options, Ruffle can actually be used installed as a browser addon, with the caveat that a website's hosted copy will usually override the addon even if the site is running an older build. ====Desktop / NPAPI====[[wikipedia:Polyfill (programming)NPAPI|polyfillsNPAPI/PPAPI]] is an obsolete browser plugin system for a bunch of different in-browser software platforms that tried to co-exist in the earlier days of the Internet, before basically only being used for Flash Player once Flash became properly dominant. By the mid-2010s, the plugin system was increasingly being seen as an ancient relic that modern browsers would be better off without; and so, while Adobe was phasing out Flash Player in late 2020, NPAPI was gradually being dropped by webmasters who want to keep all the major browser vendors. It hasn't entirely disappeared (some smaller browser devs still maintain NPAPI in their own forks of stuff like Firefox and Chromium), but it is ''mostly'' dead nowadays. You may also notice that a lot of older Flashplayer projects specifically fizzled out around 2009-based 2010. That's in huge part because before then, many video hosting sites going despite actually needed some type of SWF element to be able play videos in a browser, and the forced obsolescence development of open-source alternatives was motivated by people not wanting an increasingly large part of the Internet to hinge on a single proprietary software platform, along with Macromedia/Adobenot necessarily seeing Linux support as a top priority. It wasn's t until the start of 2010 that YouTube in particular started pushing really hard for HTML5 media elements, which have since become a standard feature inmodern browsers and single-browser handedly made Flash pluginPlayer completely redundant for multimedia playback. Therefore most  ;Flash Player:The proprietary reference player, which Adobe stopped directly supporting at the end of these emulators are really 2020. The plugin version has been delisted from Adobe's website and also has a built-in kill-switch that was flipped in January 2021, so it's probably not intended for personal much useeven in browsers that still support NPAPI. However, however some the discontinued desktop player version is still available for download from the debug downloads section of them (RuffleAdobe's website, most notably) can be installed as browser addons using the WebExtension systemand Harman International is also [https://airsdk.harman.com/flashplayer maintaining an extended support version specifically for enterprise users].''

;Adobe Flash PlayerLightspark:The official closedA C++ player that's designed specifically to provide drop-source implementation by Adobein FLOSS replacements for both the desktop and NPAPI versions of Flash Player. It claims to have 83% of the overall SWF spec covered, as of August 2022, who discontinued but development has been fairly slow since 2015 when it in 2020became a mostly one-person effort. The web version relies Lightspark historically focused on [[wikipedia:NPAPI|NPAPI/PPAPI]], an obsolete browser plugin system that for many years only stuck around specifically because more recent versions of this Flash plugin; when the plugin was officially dropped SWF spec that weren't supported by AdobeGnash, so too was the plugin system dropped by all the major browser vendors. The desktop player version is hence why Lightspark could (and still available for download from the Adobe website's debug downloads sectioncan) use Gnash as an automatic fallback if both are installed simultaneously.

;RuffleGNU Gnash:A pure Rust implementation mainly targeting HTML5, but also available as a desktop -only C++ player. The devs are planning to focus on ActionScript 1 and 2 support firstthat went inactive in 2017, with AS3 support coming later. Development of Ruffle is sponsored by multiple veteran Flash game archives, the most notably Newgroundsrecent stable release dating back to 2012. It's progressed Probably not much reason to the point where use it can run many early Flash games, including the original Flash version over newer versions of [https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/59593/format/flash?emulate=flash Alien Hominid]Lightspark, as well as playing the vast majority of [https://old.homestarrunner.com Homestar Runner] toonswhich seem to have mostly (if not entirely) superseded Gnash for compatibility.

;Lightspark & GnashGameSWF:Two An ''extremely'' old C++ implementations that somewhat complement each otherplayer, and are both designed specifically to provide a FLOSS alternative to Adobe's official players. Lightspark says it has 78% definitely one of the APIs covered, while Gnash has focused on older versions of first serious efforts to reverse-engineer Flash that Lightspark is less likely to support properly, hence why Lightspark can use Gnash as Player into an automatic fallback if both are installed simultaneouslyopen-source package. Lightspark's external dependencies would make it cumbersome to port it to HTML5Inactive since 2009, so though it's only available in browsers as an NPAPI/PPAPI plugin, similar to did lay the official one from Adobefoundations for Gnash.

;swf2jsswfdec:An openAnother very early effort to create an non-core HTML5 implementation that uses a dynamic recompilerproprietary replacement for Flash Player. The openActually pretty advanced for 2008-source "Free Version" supports limited features09, such but it hasn't been active since. ====HTML5====Pretty much all of the players listed here are specifically designed to be used as AS1, AS2 and ZLIB compression, whereas [[wikipedia:Polyfill (programming)|polyfills]] by webmasters who want to keep their Flash-based sites going despite the payware "Production Version" supports further featuresforced obsolescence of Adobe's in-browser Flash plugin. They are therefore largely not intended for personal use, such as AS3 although it's usually not impossible and LZMA compressionsome of them even have official demo pages that you can use to load whatever SWF file you want.

:A payware HTML5 emulation proprietary software package which seems designed to work make the Harman version of Flash Player usable in modern browsers by running it inside CheerpX, a binary Flash plugin inside an payware x86 emulatorin WebAssembly. As No-one on this wiki has had the chance to properly evaluate it, but we'd expect reference-level accuracy at the cost of woeful performance. That being said, CheerpX apparently has an alternate mode of operation that offloads most of December 2021the emulation and processing work to a server app, at which point the in-browser part is effectively just a streaming client. ;AwayFL<small> ([https://exponenta.games/games/AFL/ web demo])</small>:Developed by the Away Foundation, this is arguably the only emulator being endorsed most direct alternative to Ruffle, which it's roughly even with in terms of compatibility although there are still a bunch of SWFs that'll work fine in any way by Adobe or its partners one but not the other. ;WAFlash<small> (specifically[https://clubpenguinadvanced.github.io/waflash-demo/ web demo])</small>:An inactive, by Harman International closed-source C++-to-WebAssembly player that technically hasn't been made available to outside users, although there are a few sites where you can use it. It was considered the most accurate of the unofficial Flash players as of late 2021, although other still-active projects have caught up significantly. ;swf2js<small> (web demos: [https://airsdkswf2js.harmancom/free/index.html free], [https://swf2js.com/ on their Flash & AIR developers siteprod/index.html production])</small>:An open-core player that uses a dynamic recompiler. The source-available "Free" version supports limited features, such as AS1, AS2 and ZLIB compression, whereas the payware "Production" version is better suited to newer Flash files using such features as AS3 and LZMA compression. Built on more traditional JavaScript code, so it pretty much always performs worse than the WebAssembly-based options, sometimes noticeably so.

:A relatively very early HTML5 implementation. Developed player, developed rather actively for a few years, under Mozilla sponsorship, between 2012 and 2016 but ultimately abandoned in 2016 before it could reach a usable beta state.