Question

Confusion over SWF & FLV

Asked by: Tintin

I need some help to sort out my brain with the whole swf and flv formats, specifically when it comes to flash videos.

When I view a vid on youtube, is the video player *and* content both in .swf?  As I understand it, I need a swf video player (for the play/pause button, volume controls etc) to wrap around a .swf or .flv file?

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Asked On
2009-08-13 at 19:26:28ID24651862
Tags

swf

,

flv

,

flash

,

flash player

,

video

Topic

Web Graphics Software

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
5

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Answers

 

by: TintinPosted on 2009-08-13 at 19:28:49ID: 25094858

I should add that I'm talking about embedding the video on a web page and not viewing it via a standalone viewer.

 

by: GraphixerPosted on 2009-08-13 at 20:38:19ID: 25095098

SWF is short for ShockWave Flash.  Most all interactive Flash programming is in SWF, including video players.

FLV is short for Flash Video.  With the exception of things like cue points, it's purely a video format, much like WMV, MOV or MPG.

Using YouTube as an example, the player (the window, buttons, sliders, etc.) are in SWF, while the actual video file is in FLV.  This is the same relationship Quicktime has with MOV, or Windows Media Player has with WMV.

That clear things up?

 

by: TintinPosted on 2009-08-13 at 21:03:07ID: 25095171

Yep, that makes things a bit clearer.

I also read through http://www.video-to-flash.com/flash_video/ which helped.

Taking youtube as an example, how do all of those youtube video downloaders work out how to extract the FLV file?

 

by: TintinPosted on 2009-08-14 at 01:59:21ID: 31615639

That made things clearer for me and I managed to sort out everything from there on.

 

by: GraphixerPosted on 2009-08-14 at 10:06:18ID: 25100171

When you view a video, the FLV typically gets stored in the browser's cache folder, so I'd guess that those downloaders just work out a way to redirect it for more convenient access.

You might ask this in the Flash zone if you need more details.

Thanks for the points!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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