| Full name | Macromedia Flash FLV Video File Format |
| Description | Binary file format that delivers "bitmapped" video, limited to one video and one audio stream per file, over the Internet to one or another versions of the Macromedia Flash Player. FLV content may also be incorporated in SWF files by ActionScript external references.
In 2005, Adobe Systems Incorporated acquired Macromedia. During this year, under the Macromedia brand, the company published specifications for version 8 of the SWF file format (SWF_8) together with documentation of the FLV format. The October 2005 issue of Macworld magazine reports that the Flash Professional 8 application offers a new video codec called VP6 from a company named On2. In late 2006, commentators predicted the advent of version 9, which may be branded as Adobe.
Comments welcome. |
| Production phase | Used for final-state, end-user delivery. |
| Relationship to other formats | |
| May contain |
Sorenson encoded video.1 |
| May contain |
Screen video bitstream format and Screen Video Version 2, not documented here. |
| May contain |
On2 Truemotion VP6 bitstream format, not documented here. |
| May contain |
Raw PCM sampled audio content, not documented here. |
| May contain |
ADPCM (Adaptive Delta Pulse Code Modulation) audio content |
| May contain |
MP3_ENC audio content |
| May contain |
Nellymoser Asao (speech compression) audio content, not documented here. |
| Other |
SWF_7 Macromedia Flash SWF File Format, Version 7. Explanatory note: FLV content may be associated with SWF by means of ActionScript external references. |
| Other |
SWF_8 Macromedia Flash SWF File Format, Version 8. Explanatory note: FLV content may be associated with SWF by means of ActionScript external references. |
| Disclosure | Fully documented. Developed by Macromedia, Inc., now owned by Adobe Systems. |
| Documentation | Provided within The Macromedia Flash (SWF) and Flash Video (FLV) File Format Specification, Version 8, n.d.(copyright notice 2005), pp. 257-65. Document is available from an Adobe Web page, active as of February 2007.
|
| Adoption | Not investigated. |
| Licensing and patent claims | See Adobe licensing page. |
| Transparency | Transparent wrapper; proprietary binary content within. |
| Self-documentation | Various headers provide technical information; the specification does not indicate a location to embed descriptive metadata. |
| External dependencies | None. |
| Technical protection considerations | None known to the compilers of this document. |
| Video elements | |
| Normal rendering for video | Good support |
| Clarity (support for high image resolution) | "Bitmapped" video in FLV files may be compressed in various ways (see relationships above); the video quality in these encodings is expected to range from good to very good. |
| Functionality beyond normal rendering for video | Certain capabilities may relate to the use of ActionScripts. |
| Sound elements | |
| Normal rendering for sound | Good support |
| Fidelity (support for high audio resolution) | The specification limits uncompressed audio to 44 kHz sampling and 16 bit words, thus providing very good fidelity. The use of compressed audio formats (see relationships above) will reduce fidelity in accord with the specific encoding and settings selected. |
| Support for multiple sound channels | Stereo only. |
| Support for downloadable or user-defined sounds, samples, and patches | None. |
| Functionality beyond normal rendering for sound | Certain capabilities may relate to the use of ActionScripts. |
