Changes

|Adobe Flash Player|align! colspan=left"6"|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|Web}}Desktop / Plugin <ref group=N name=plugin />|[https://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayerPlugin versions of these players require a browser that supports NPAPI/debug_downloads.html 32.0.0.465]|{{✗}} ||{{~}}<ref group=N>Adobe versions discontinued. Harman versions currently maintained for enterprise customers onlyPPAPI.</ref> ||{{✓}}

|[https://github.com/vidkidz/waflash WAFlash]Flash Player|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|Web}}|[https://clubpenguinadvancedweb.archive.org/web/20220331041116/https://www.githubadobe.iocom/support/waflash-demoflashplayer/ Webdebug_downloads.html 32.0.0.465]|{{✗}} ||{{✗~}} <ref group=N>Adobe versions discontinued. Harman versions currently maintained for enterprise customers only.</ref> ||{{✓}}

|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|Web}}

|[https://lightspark.github.iocom/vidkidz/ Lightsparkwaflash WAFlash]|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|Webna}}<ref group=N name=plugin>Web version is only available as an NPAPI/PPAPI plugin, and is therefore not OS-agnostic.</ref>|[https://github.com/lightspark/lightspark/releases 0.8.5]|{{✓✗}} ||{{✓✗}} ||{{~}}<small> (WIP)</small>

|align=left|{{Icon|Web}}|[https://github.com/swf2js/swf2js Download (Free Version only)]<br />Demo sites:<br />[https://swf2js.com/free/index.html Free Version]<br />[https://swf2js0.com/prod/index7.html Production Version8]

|align=left|{{Icon|Web}}|[https://docs.leaningtech.com/cheerpx-for-flash/Changelog Version 3334]

====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 implementations 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]] , in case you don't remember, is an obsolete browser plugin system that was used by webmasters who want a bunch of different in-browser software platforms that tried to keep co-exist in the earlier days of the Internet, before basically only existing for the sake of Flash Player once the SWF format became properly dominant and pushed everything else out of the HTTP ecosystem. 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 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. One likely reason for that is because, before then, many multimedia hosting sites going despite actually needed some type of SWF element to be able play audio and/or video in a browser. The development of open-source alternatives was motivated by people not wanting an increasingly large part of the forced obsolescence of 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 Player completely redundant for multimedia playback. ;Flash Player:The proprietary reference player, which Adobe stopped directly supporting in at the end of 2020 and has since fully delisted from their website. The plugin. They are therefore really version 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, although but the desktop player version is still usable if you download itfrom an archived version of the Adobe website. Harman International is also [https://airsdk.harman.com/flashplayer maintaining an extended support version specifically for enterprise users]. ;Lightspark:A C++ player that's usually not impossibledesigned specifically to provide drop-in 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, but development has been fairly slow since 2015 when it became a mostly one-person effort.Lightspark historically focused on more recent versions of the SWF spec that weren''t supported by Gnash, hence why Lightspark could (and still can) use Gnash as an automatic fallback if both are installed simultaneously.

;Adobe Flash PlayerGNU Gnash:The proprietary reference implementation, which Adobe stopped directly supporting at the end of 2020. The web version relies on [[wikipedia:NPAPI|NPAPI/PPAPI]], an obsolete browser plugin system A desktop-only C++ player that for many years only stuck around specifically because of Flash Player; as Adobe was phasing out the pluginwent inactive in 2017, so too was with the plugin system gradually being dropped by all the major browser vendors. The discontinued desktop player version is still available for download from the debug downloads section of Adobe's website, and Harman International is also [https://airsdk.harman.com/flashplayer maintaining an extended support version specifically for enterprise users].:;CheerpX for Flash::A proprietary software package designed most recent stable release dating back to make the Harman version of Flash Player usable in modern web browsers by running it inside CheerpX, a payware x86 emulator in WebAssembly2012. No-one on this wiki has had the chance Probably not much reason to properly evaluate use it, but we'd expect reference-level accuracy at the cost over newer versions of woeful performance. That being saidLightspark, CheerpX apparently has an alternate mode of operation that offloads most of the emulation and processing work which seem to a server app, at which point the in-browser part is effectively just a streaming clienthave mostly (if not entirely) superseded Gnash for compatibility.

;WAFlashGameSWF:A closed-source An ''extremely'' old C++player, definitely one of the first serious efforts to reverse-toengineer Flash Player into an open-HTML5 implementation that technically hasn't been made available to outside userssource package. Inactive since 2009, although there are a few sites where you can use though it. It seems to be did lay the most accurate of the unofficial Flash players, as of December 2021foundations for Gnash.

;Ruffleswfdec:A Rust implementation that mainly targets HTML5, but is also available as a desktop player. Notably used by a bunch of veteran Another very early effort to create an non-proprietary replacement for Flash content sites including [https://www.newgroundsPlayer.com Newgrounds]Actually pretty advanced for 2008-09, [https://homestarrunner.com Homestar Runner] and [https://www.coolmathgames.com CoolMathGames], and also by the Internet Archive's [https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_flash Flash library]. It's progressed to the point where but 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]. Unlike the other HTML5 options, Ruffle can actually be installed as a browser addon, with the caveat that a websitehasn's hosted copy will usually override the addon even if the site is running an older buildt been active since.

;AwayFL====HTML5====Pretty much all of the players listed here are specifically designed to be used as [[wikipedia:An HTML5 implementation developed Polyfill (programming)|polyfills]] by webmasters who want to keep their Flash-based sites going despite the Away Foundationforced obsolescence of Adobe's in-browser Flash plugin. Sometimes works better than RuffleThey are therefore largely not intended for personal use, depending on the specific Flash although it's usually not impossible and some of them even have official demo pages that you can use to load whatever SWF file you're trying to runwant.

;LightsparkCheerpX for Flash:A C++ implementation that's proprietary software package designed specifically to provide drop-in FLOSS replacements for both make the desktop and NPAPI versions Harman version of Flash Playerusable in modern browsers by running it inside CheerpX, a payware x86 emulator in WebAssembly. It claims No-one on this wiki has had the chance to have 79% 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 the APIs coveredemulation 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 most direct alternative to Ruffle, as which it's roughly even with in terms of January 2022compatibility although there are still a bunch of SWFs that'll work fine in one but not the other.

;swf2jsWAFlash<small> ([https://clubpenguinadvanced.github.io/waflash-demo/ web demo])</small>:An openinactive, closed-core HTML5 implementation that uses a dynamic recompiler. The sourceC++-to-WebAssembly player that technically hasn't been made available "Free" version supports limited featuresto outside users, such as AS1, AS2 and ZLIB compression, whereas although there are a few sites where you can use it. It was considered the most accurate of the payware "Production" version is better suited to newer unofficial Flash files using such features players as AS3 and LZMA compression. Built on more traditional JavaScript codeof late 2021, so it pretty much always performs worse than the WebAssemblyalthough other still-based options, sometimes noticeably soactive projects have caught up significantly.

;GNU Gnashswf2js<small> (web demos: [https://swf2js.com/free/index.html free], [https://swf2js.com/prod/index.html production])</small>:A desktopAn open-only C++ implementation core player that went inactive in 2017uses a dynamic recompiler. The source-available "Free" version supports limited features, such as AS1, with AS2 and ZLIB compression, whereas the most recent stable release dating back payware "Production" version is better suited to 2012. It focuses on older versions of newer Flash that Lightspark was historically less focused on supporting properly, hence why Lightspark could (files using such features as AS3 and still can) use Gnash as an automatic fallback if both are installed simultaneouslyLZMA compression. HoweverBuilt on more traditional JavaScript code, newer versions of Lightspark have so it pretty much superseded Gnash entirely and there's not much reason to use it at all anymore.:;GameSWF::The original basis for Gnash. An ''extremely'' old C++ implementation, definitely one of always performs worse than the first serious efforts to reverseWebAssembly-engineer Flash Player into an open-source package. Inactive since 2009based options, sometimes noticeably so.

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