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|title = Adobe Flash|logo = Adobe_Flash_Logo.png|developer logowidth= Adobe160|type = |generation developer= Adobe|release = 1996|discontinued = 2020|predecessor =

'''Flash''' (previously FutureSplash Animator, before that SmartSketch) is a software platform created by FutureWave Software, and is currently owned by Adobe (previously formerly Macromedia). Originally a drawing program for PenPoint OS, later ported to Windows and Macintosh when pen computing failed to take off, frame-by-frame animation features were added to it in a new program called FutureSplash Animator. The company was acquired by Macromedia in December 1996, rebranding FutureSplash Animator to Flash, an amalgamation of "Future" and "Splash". In turn, Macromedia was acquired by Adobe on December 3, 2005. Their operations, networks, and customer care organizations were merged shortly after.

Used by an overwhelming majority of websites in between the early 2000s to and the mid-2010s, Flash has been was very much the go-to platform for multimedia online cartoons and animationgames, being utilised especially popular for streaming video providers such as YouTube, various entertainment sites and children's websites sites due to its rich content, and has spawned a its own subculture of animators and game developers as exemplified by the likes of Newgrounds. A number SWF elements also proved to be a crucial tool for many multimedia hosting sites so that they could actually play audio/video inside a browser, given the lack of popular animated series were also animated using Flashviable alternatives in the pre-HTML5 days. However, most notably ''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic''around the start of 2010 YouTube started pushing really hard for HTML5 media elements, ''Phineas which have since become a standard feature in modern browsers and Ferb'' and ''Happy Tree Friends'' to name a fewsingle-handedly made Flash Player obsolete for multimedia playback.

In fact, Flash's popularity declined as a whole started declining steeply in the mid-to-late 2010s due to the rise of alternative (and open) web standards such as HTML5 and mobile device manufacturers dropping support for the platform, a prominent example being Apple , who publicly stated that iOS will would ''never'' support Flash. Google followed suit when it dropped support for the platform in subsequent new releases of Android releases, and it didn't help that a series of security issues, coupled with Flash itself being a closed standard, has led Adobe to wind down on Flash and retire it the official player in 2020. The Flash authoring toolkit, since renamed Adobe Animate, is still actively supported and has undergone a total market shift towards animators; a number of popular cartoon series are already produced using Animate, most notably ''My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic'', ''Phineas and Ferb'' and ''Happy Tree Friends'', to name a few.

; If you don't want to mess with these tools, just use [[Flashpoint]] - preservation effort for games and animations designed in commercial web frameworks (not just Flash).<div style="overflow-x:auto;width:100%">{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;width:100%"! scope="col"|Name! scope="col"|Platform(s)! scope="col"|Latest version!scope="col"|[[#ScaleForm GFx|ScaleForm GFx]]!scope="col"|[[#Adobe AIR|Adobe AIR]]! scope="col"|<abbr title="Free/Libre and Open-Source Software">FLOSS</abbr>! scope="col"|Active! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]

|Adobe Flash Player|align!colspan=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS"8"|Desktop & NPAPI & Web}}<ref group=N name=plugin />|[https://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/debug_downloads.html 32.0.0.465]|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}}

|Flash Player|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|Web}}<ref group=N name=plugin>Web version requires a browser that supports NPAPI.</ref>|[https://web.archive.org/web/20220331041116/https://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/debug_downloads.html 32.0.0.465]|{{~}} <ref group=N name=scaleform>Requires the third-party software component to access it.</ref> ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{~}} <ref group=N>Adobe versions discontinued. Harman versions are currently maintained for enterprise customers only.</ref> ||{{✓}}|-|[https://githubgitlab.com/vidkidzcleanflash/waflash WAFlashinstaller Clean Flash Player]|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|Web}}<ref group=N name=plugin/>|[https://clubpenguinadvancedgithub.com/darktohka/clean-flash-builds 34.0.0.289] (Windows, Mac)<br />[https://github.iocom/waflashdarktohka/clean-demoflash-builds/ Webreleases/tag/v1.7 34.0.0.137](Linux)|{{~}} <ref group=N name=scaleform/> ||{{✗}}||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|[https://ruffle.rs/ [Ruffle]]

|[https://ruffle.rs/downloads Nightly builds]|{{~}} ||{{~}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}<small> (WIP)</small>|-|[https://lightspark.github.io/ Lightspark]|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|Web}}<ref group=N name=plugin/>|[https://github.com/ruffle-rslightspark/rufflelightspark/releases Nightly builds0.8.7]|{{✗}} ||{{~}} [https://github.com/lightspark/lightspark/blob/master/src/main.cpp#L365 *]||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{~}}<small> (WIP)</small>

|{{✗}} ||{{~}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{~}}<small> (WIP)</small>

|[https://lightsparkvidkidz.github.io/ LightsparkWAFlash]|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|Web}}<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]{{Na}}|{{✓✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓✗}} ||{{~}}

|[https://github.com/swf2js/swf2js JavaScript file download0.7.8]|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{~}} ||{{✗}} ||{{~}}|-|Moco|align=left|{{Icon|Windows}}|[https://github.com/naomiEve/Moco git]|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}<small> (WIP)<br /small>Demos|-|[https: //gnu.org/software/gnash GNU Gnash]|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux}}|[https://swf2jswww.gnu.org/software/gnash/download.html 0.8.10]|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}|-|[http://tulrich.com/freetextweb.pl?path=geekstuff/indexgameswf.html Freetxt GameSWF]|align=left|{{Icon|Windows7|macOS|Linux}}|[https://sourceforge.net/projects/tu-testbed/files/demos/gameswf-2009-08-08/ 2009-08-08]|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}|-|[https://web.archive.org/web/20090116113151/http://swfdec.freedesktop.org/wiki swfdec], |align=left|{{Icon|Linux|Web}}<ref group=N name=plugin/>|[https://swf2jsweb.archive.org/web/20090116113151/http://swfdec.comfreedesktop.org/download/swfdec/prod0.8/indexswfdec-0.8.4.tar.gz 0.8.html Prod4]|{{~✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{~✗}}

|[https://docs.leaningtech.com/cheerpx-for-flash/Changelog Version 3135]|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}|-|[https://open-flash.github.io/ Open Flash / Doμ Player]|align=left|{{Icon|Web}}|[https://github.com/open-flash/domu-player git]|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}

|{{✗}} ||{{~}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}|-!colspan="8"|Mobile|-|[[Ruffle]]|align=left|{{Icon|Android}}|[https://github.com/ruffle-rs/ruffle-android git]|{{~}} ||{{~}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}|-!colspan="8"|Consoles

|[https://gnu.org/software/gnash GNU Gnash]FGP3|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|LinuxPS3}}|[https://www.gnugithub.orgcom/softwareDropSonic0/gnash/downloadFlash-Player-PS3-Store 1.html 0.8.1006]|? ||? ||{{✓}} ||{{✗✓}} ||{{✗✓}}

|[https://open-flash.github.io/ Open PSP Flash / Doμ Player]|align=left|{{Icon|WebPSP}}|[https://githubarchive.comorg/open-flashdetails/domu-player gitswfplayerv13.7z v13]|? ||? ||{{✓✗}} ||{{✓✗}} ||{{?✗}}

====Hybrid====;''Common aspects''[[Ruffle]] <small class="plainlinks" style="font-weight:normal;">([https://ruffle.rs/demo/ web demo]) ([https://github.com/ruffle-rs/ruffle/issues/310 avm1 compatibility]) ([https://ruffle.rs/avm2.html avm2 compatibility])</small>:A Rust-based player that targets both HTML5 and desktop. Ruffle has been able to run many early Flash games since 2021, and the main development focus is now on support for newer AVM2-based files, although that''Pretty much all s still far from complete as of 2024. Unlike the other HTML5 emulators listed here are specifically designed to options, Ruffle can be installed as a WebExtension in browsers that support it, with the caveat that a website's hosted copy will sometimes override the extension even if the site is running an older build.:Ruffle has become hugely popular as an alternative SWF player, being notably used as by a bunch of veteran Flash content sites including [https://www.newgrounds.com Newgrounds], [wikipediahttps:Polyfill (programming)|polyfills//homestarrunner.com Homestar Runner]and [https://www.coolmathgames.com CoolMathGames] , and also by webmasters who want to keep their Flash-based sites going despite the forced obsolescence of AdobeInternet Archive's in-browser [https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_flash Flash pluginlibrary]. Therefore It's also the most actively developed and arguably the most accurate of these emulators the open-source players that are really not intended for personal use, however some of them (Ruffleavailable today, most notably) can be installed as browser addons using the WebExtension system.so this is likely your next best option if you don't want to bother with Flash Player or anything that's been forked from it.

;Adobe Flash Player====Desktop / NPAPI====:The official closed-source implementation by Adobe, who discontinued it in 2020. The web version relies on [[wikipedia:NPAPI|NPAPI/PPAPI]], —in case you don't remember—is an obsolete browser plugin system that designed to allow for many years interactive web-page elements beyond what early versions of HTML could do on their own. While there were a bunch of different in-browser software platforms co-existing in the earlier days of the internet, NPAPI effectively existed only stuck around specifically because for the sake of SWF players once the format became properly dominant and pushed everything else out of the in-browser ecosystem. With the shrinking relevance of this Flash SWF in the late 2010s, the plugin; when system that the plugin players relied on was officially dropped by Adobeincreasingly seen as an ancient relic that modern browsers would be better off without, and so too was the plugin system dropped NPAPI started being phased out by all the major browser vendors. The desktop player version is still available for download from in late 2020 (around the same time that Adobe website's debug downloads section, and Harman International is also [https://airsdk.harman.com/flashplayer maintaining an extended support version specifically for enterprise users].:;CheerpX for Flash::A payware HTML5 emulation package which combines CheerpX, an x86 emulator in WebAssembly, with Harman International's extended support version of Adobe was preparing to drop Flash Playeritself). No-one on this wiki has formally evaluated it (yet), but you shouldnNPAPI hasn't expect amazing performance given the added complexity entirely gone away though, as some indie browser devs still maintain it in their own forks of Firefox and Chromium and such an approach.

;WAFlashFlash Player:A closedThe proprietary reference player, which Adobe stopped directly supporting at the end of 2020 and has since fully delisted from their website. The plugin version has a built-source C++in kill-to-HTML5 implementation switch that was flipped in January 2021, so it's probably not much use even in browsers that still support NPAPI, but the desktop player version is still usable if you download it from an archived version of the Adobe website. It's also worth noting that technically the player hasn't been officially released yetcompletely discontinued: Harman International continues to maintain [https://airsdk.harman.com/flashplayer an extended support version] intended for enterprise users; and there's also a consumer-level Chinese version which is actively developed by Zhongcheng, and will probably although you shouldn't get it from their official site (Flash [dot] cn) because it'll be payware once it isfull of bundled malware. It seems to be :Despite the hard discontinuation and a lack of support for user-friendly features such as URL spoofing, Adobe's Flash Player still remains the most accurate widely-compatible desktop player for Flash games as of 2023, which is why the [[Flashpoint]] preservation project still relies on Flash Player to run its SWF games.:;Clean Flash Player::An unofficial emulators effort that takes the still-active Zhongcheng version of Flash Player and repacks it minus as of December 2021much malware as the Clean Flash project can remove. This might be the better option if you're looking for an NPAPI player specifically.

;RuffleLightspark:An openA C++ player designed to provide drop-source Rust implementation sponsored by multiple veteran in FLOSS replacements for both the desktop and NPAPI versions of Flash game archives, most notably NewgroundsPlayer. It mainly targets HTML5claims to have 83% of the overall SWF spec covered as of August 2022, but is also available as development has been slow ever since it became a desktop playermostly one-person effort circa 2015. The devs are planning to focus Lightspark historically focused on ActionScript 1 more recent versions of the SWF spec that weren't supported by Gnash, hence why Lightspark could (and 2 support first, with AS3 support coming later. It's progressed to the point where it still 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], ) use Gnash as well as playing the vast majority of [https://old.homestarrunner.com Homestar Runner] toonsan automatic fallback if both are installed simultaneously.

;AwayFLGNU Gnash:An openA desktop-source HTML5 implementation developed by only C++ player that went inactive in 2017, with the Away Foundationmost recent stable release dating back to 2012. Probably not much reason to use it over newer versions of Lightspark, under sponsorship from Poki.com. Sometimes works better than Ruffle in specific caseswhich seem to have mostly (if not entirely) superseded Gnash for compatibility.

;LightsparkGameSWF & swfdec:A C++ implementation that's Two very early efforts to create non-proprietary replacements for the desktop Flash Player, both inactive since 2009 and very much obsolete nowadays. Gnash began as a fork of GameSWF. ====HTML5====Pretty much all of the players listed here are specifically designed specifically to provide a FLOSS alternative be used as [[wikipedia:Polyfill (programming)|polyfills]] by webmasters who want to keep their Flash-based sites going despite the forced obsolescence of Adobe's in-browser Flash plugin. They are, therefore, largely not intended for personal use, although it's usually not impossible and some of them even have official playersdemo pages that you can use to load whatever SWF file you want. Lightspark says  ;CheerpX for Flash:A proprietary software package designed to make the Harman version of Flash Player usable in modern browsers by running it inside CheerpX, a payware x86 emulator in WebAssembly. No one on this wiki has 78% of had the chance to properly evaluate it, but we'd expect reference-level accuracy at the APIs covered as cost of December 2021woeful performance. Lightspark's external dependencies would make it cumbersome That being said, CheerpX can also function as a streaming client to port it a bundled server app that does the emulation and processing work instead. ;AwayFL <small class="plainlinks" style="font-weight:normal;">([https://exponenta.games/games/AFL/ web demo])</small>:Developed by the Away Foundation, this is arguably the most direct alternative to HTML5Ruffle, so although it's only available has fallen behind in browsers as an NPAPIterms of compatibility. ;WAFlash <small class="plainlinks" style="font-weight:normal;">([https://clubpenguinadvanced.github.io/waflash-demo/ web demo])</PPAPI pluginsmall>:An inactive, similar 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 official one from Adobeunofficial Flash players as of late 2021, although other still-active projects have caught up significantly.

;swf2js<small class="plainlinks" style="font-weight:normal;">(web demos: [https://swf2js.com/free/index.html free], [https://swf2js.com/prod/index.html production])</small>:An open-core HTML5 implementation player that uses a dynamic recompiler. The source-available "Free" version supports limited features, such as AS1, AS2 and ZLIB compression. In contrast, whereas the payware "Production" version is better suited to newer Flash files using such features as AS3 and LZMA compressionfeatures. Uses normal Built on more traditional JavaScript rather code, so it pretty much always performs worse than any of the WebAssemblyplayers, sometimes noticeably so performance is less than ideal.

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

==Peripherals=====ScaleForm GFx===Scaleform GFx is a discontinued game development middleware package, a vector graphics rendering engine used to display Adobe Flash-based user interfaces and HUDs for video games. In March 2011, Autodesk acquired Scaleform Corporation and Scaleform GFx became part of the Autodesk Gameware line of middleware. On July 12, 2018, Autodesk discontinued Scaleform GFx, and it is no longer available for purchase. Authors created user interfaces using Adobe Flash authoring tools, such as Adobe Animate (formerly Adobe Flash Professional);GNU Gnashthe resulting SWF files were used directly by the GFx libraries, providing similar functionality to the Adobe Flash Player but optimized for use within game engines. Scaleform GFx supported all major platforms, including game consoles, mobile and PC operating systems. Scaleform provides APIs for direct communication between Flash content and the game engine, and pre-built integrations for popular engines such as Unity, Unreal Engine, and CryENGINE. Scaleform GFx could also be licensed for use as a standalone Flash runtime system on mobile platforms, competing with Adobe AIR. ===Adobe AIR===:An openAdobe AIR (also known as Adobe Integrated Runtime and codenamed Apollo) is a cross-source platform runtime system currently developed by Harman International, in collaboration with Adobe Inc., for building desktop player that has made very little progress since early 2012 and mobile applications, programmed using Adobe Animate, ActionScript, and optionally Apache Flex. It focuses on older versions of Flash that Lightspark was originally less focused released in 2008. The runtime supports installable applications on supporting properlyWindows, macOS, and mobile operating systems, including Android, iOS, hence why Lightspark could use Gnash and BlackBerry Tablet OS. AIR is a runtime environment that allows Adobe Animate content and ActionScript 3.0 coders to construct applications and video games that run as a stand-alone executable and behave similarly to a native application on supported platforms. An HTML5 application used in a browser does not require installation, while AIR applications require installation from an automatic fallback if both are installed simultaneouslyinstaller file (Windows and macOS) or the appropriate App Store (iOS and Android). HoweverAIR applications have unrestricted access to local storage and file systems, newer versions of Lightspark while browser-based applications only have all but completely superseded Gnash and there's not much reason access to use it anymoreindividual files selected by users.

* [[Flashpoint]https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_flash?tab=collection Archive.org-Software Library: Flash] - preservation effort Internet Archive's Flash Games Software Library is abundant with options for any level of computer gaming. With an in-site emulator ready to run thousands of games designed in commercial web frameworks (not just Flash)the Software Library, the Internet Archive can turn your computer into a mini arcade at the click of a button.