Adobe Flash (previously called Macromedia Flash) is a multimedia
platform created by Macromedia and currently developed and
distributed by Adobe Systems. Since its introduction in 1996, Flash
has become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity
to web pages; Flash is commonly used to create animation,
advertisements, and various web page components, to integrate video
into web pages, and more recently, to develop rich Internet
applications.
Flash can manipulate vector and raster graphics and supports
bi-directional streaming of audio and video. It contains a
scripting language called ActionScript. Several software products,
systems, and devices are able to create or display Flash content,
including Adobe Flash Player, which is available for most common
web browsers, some mobile phones and other electronic devices
(using Flash Lite). The Adobe Flash Professional multimedia
authoring program is used to create content for the Adobe
Engagement Platform, such as web applications, games and movies,
and content for mobile phones and other embedded devices.
Files in the SWF format, traditionally called "ShockWave Flash"
movies, "Flash movies" or "Flash games", usually have a .swf file
extension and may be an object of a web page, strictly "played" in
a standalone Flash Player, or incorporated into a Projector, a
self-executing Flash movie (with the .exe extension in Microsoft
Windows). Flash Video (FLV) files have a .flv file extension and
are either used from within .swf files or played through a flv
aware player, such as VLC, or QuickTime and Windows Media Player
with external codecs added.