SWF is the file format for Adobe Flash files, which is a common macro media format now owned by Adobe and is used by many people to deliver multimedia files across the web, safely. To view.swf files on Mac, you will need SWF players. Here we have selected 5 best SWF players to open SWF files with ease. That is why so many people turn to the SWF Player to play flash videos. The player looks very primitive because it is only a small file. It is highly portable because it is small and easy to install but it has few features and is aesthetically unpleasant. The reason the SWF Player is not as popular as it should be is twofold. SWF File Player is a free player for SWF (Shockwave Flash) files, can quickly open SWF files and read metadata tags from the file header, software can automatically resize program window to fit SWF content and show it. This is a completely freeware, you can use it for free.
Main Menu provides access to all SWF & FLV Player’s great features and options and highly resembles standard application’s menu. There are several menu items available listed below:
SWF & FLV Player
- About SWF & FLV Player – menu option allows you to get version and build of SWF & FLV Player
- Preferences – option invokes “Preferences” dialog where you may customize program’s options and parameters
General
- Default Flash quality
Here you may specify the default quality value of the played SWF file by selecting from the following values: Low, Medium and High. After applying the value, it will be selected automatically when you play the movie.
- FLV background color
This option lets you change background color of the Viewer window for FLV files playback.
- Zoom Drawer interpolation
This option defines quality of image in a Zooming Preview window. You may select it from Default (value which is selected by operating system and presumably is optimal for you), None, Low and High. This image is created dynamically by interpolating from original movie size to Zoom Window’s one. Since this is a real-time process, it consumes a large portion of processor’s resources and may significantly slow-down your system (depending on hardware configuration). If you experience certain problems with application’s speed while playing the movie, please, set “Zoom image interpolation” to None.
- Zoom Drawer update frequency
Use this slider to specify the speed of updating zoomed image. Same as above, zoomed image is updated in real-time and requires a lot of calculation, hence may slow-down the whole system. If you experience certain problems with application’s speed while playing the movie, please, move the slider to slow-end of the gauge.
- Don’t allow screensaver when playing in full screen
This option makes it possible to disable screensaver during full-screen playback.
- Allow to send/receive data over network
In case your Flash movie loads external data (either located on Internet or locally) it communicates with the world by sending and receiving network packets. This could be potentially unsafe (however, unlikely) since there is the possibility of execution of arbitrary code. You may disable sending/receiving data, however, some SWF files may not work properly.
- Enable Flash Local Security
Starting from Macromedia Flash 8.0 you may explicitly specify the security policy for the played SWF file at the Macromedia site. If you enable this option then every time when SWF file will try to load external resources or open web page your will get the warning message where you may modify security settings.
Please, note, that if you have disabled “Allow to send/receive data over network” you want be able to access Macromedia site and therefore, won’t be able to modify settings. In case you allowed access external resource, you won’t see this warning message again. To change it back to “Always ask” option, please, visit Macromedia security manager site.
- Automatically play files added to Playlist
Please, enable this option if you prefer that the files added to Playlist should start playing automatically.
- Allow native dragging
Enable this option if you would like SWF & FLV Player to drag SWF object and scrolls in interactive SWF files. Alternatively, you can restrict native dragging in interactive SWFs by leaving the option untouched.
Playlist
In this tab you can choose and alter the way SWF & FLV Player should act when going to next playlist item.
- The last frame is met
This option defines the algorithms which will be used to find out whether the current movie has been finished. With this option is enabled, SWF & FLV Player should proceed to the next playlist item when the last frame of the current movie has been reached.
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- The frame number was decreased
SWF & FLV Player is able to detect the last movie frame, unexpected and unusual frame sequence changes (the movie was rewinded and played from the start). Check this option if you would like to proceed to the next item in the Playlist when such a behavior of a SWF movie occurs.
- The player stays on the same frame more than…
When you select this option, you will let the player jump to the next playlist item automatically if the movie stays on the same frame (but not last one) during the certain period of time. SWF & FLV Player gives you the possibility to manually set inactivity time of the movie. “The frame number was decreased” and “the player stays on the same frame more than” options do not affect FLV files playback.
Capture
This tab lets you configure the way how the Player would act when converting your movie into the series of images.
- Default folder
Select any folder on your computer where you would like to save the series of screenshots that will come out of your movie
- Screenshots interval
Move the scroll on the scale to select after how many seconds another screenshot will be taken
- Always start capturing from 1st frame
Select this option if you would like SWF & FLV Player to start making screenshots from the very first frame of the movie
- Keep capturing to the next movie in Playlist
SWF & FLV Player would jump to the next item in Playlist according to the option you have chosen in “Playlist” tab. The last screenshot will be taken the moment the Player goes to the next movie in the Playlist.
- Check for updates – allows you to check for new version of SWF & FLV Player, so you are not required to visit site for updates.
- Integrate with browsers – allows you to integrate SWF & FLV Player to web browser. This feature is very useful for those, who want to browse sites and open and save Flash files on the go. After launching “Integrate with browsers” in main menu you will see the following in your default web browser window:
Now all that you need is drag this link to the browser’s bookmarks bar and whenever you want to save Flash movies on a page, simply click it to call SWF & FLV Player and start saving movies online.
- Change registration info – invokes dialog, where you enter your name and registration code after you upgraded SWF & FLV Player to PRO
- Services – allows launching other Mac applications
- Upgrade to PRO version – lets you upgrade to SWF & FLV Player PRO and get all the benefits it provides (save SWF files, fully playback and manage FLV and switch to full-screen mode). Enter registration key which will be sent to you immediately after the purchase into the registration dialog to complete the upgrade
- Hide SWF & FLV Player – simply hides the player
- Hide Others – hide other programs
- Show All – show all programs
- Quit SWF & FLV Player – close this application
File
- Open – invoke “Open file” dialog where you may navigate to necessary SWF file. Once selected, this SWF file will be started automatically without adding to playlist.
- Open recent – select necessary SWF file from the list of previously accessed SWF files and add it to playlist. Choose “Clear Menu” option to clear this list.
- Save As – opens “Save as” dialog to specify file name and location where currently played SWF (doesn’t work for FLV) file will be stored. Please, note that this option is available in PRO version only.
- Add to Playlist – invoke “Open file” dialog where you may navigate to necessary SWF file and add it to SWF Movie Player playlist. In order to select multiple files, please click several files while holding “Command” key.
- Clear Playlist – removes all items from SWF & FLV Player playlist.
- Save Playlist – saves current playlist for your convenience.
- Load Playlist – loads playlist file previously saved by user.
- Open URL – invokes the dialog where you may type the full path to SWF/FLV file on the Internet (URL). Please, note, you must provide correct path to the file to be able to open it. If you don’t know one, you may use “Browse URL” option that lists all available Flash movies at the specified web address and provides additional information along with URL address.
- Download online Flash movies – opens dialog where you may type in web address to fetch all SWF files at that address. Additionally, you may preview found SWF files (double-click any item in the list), open selected files in SWF & FLV Player (without adding them to playlist), save checked SWF files to the hard disk (available in PRO version: files will be automatically added to playlist) and, finally, find out whether the selected SWF file loads external resources (double-click the entry in the list – if SWF file will expand then it loads external resources listed below the file).
Movie
This menu option contains the standard player’s options such as play, pause, rewind, etc. which you may find in Macromedia Flash or any audio/video player.
- Fit to current window
This option allows to change movie size to fit the current window (in case it was resized) and is fully identical to the one of Movie Controls.
- Restore the original size
Use this option to restore Flash movie size to the original one (in case it was resized). This option is identical to Movie Controls option.
- Enter full-screen mode
Select this menu option if you want to switch to or exit from full-screen mode (available in PRO version only).
- Float on top
Use this option if you want SWF & FLV Player to stay on top of other windows (available in PRO version only).
- Quality
Specify the quality of the played SWF movie file by selecting from Low, Medium and High (this option is similar to the one of standard Macromedia Flash player).
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- Play
Play the currently opened movie.
- Stop
Stop the currently playing movie.
- Rewind
Move to the first movie frame.
- Go to frame
Invokes a dialog where you may type the frame number which you want to move to. Total number of frames is shown in Movie Controls panel.
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- Open next playlist item
Move to the next playlist item (if any).
- Open previous playlist item
Move to previous playlist item (if any).
- Capture SWF frame screenshot
Choose this option if you would like to make a screenshot of the current frame (available in PRO version only).
- Start converting SWF into image series
This option allows you to convert the current SWF file into a series of screenshots (available in PRO version only).
Window
This menu contains the options that allow modifying the application’s interface lookout:
- Close …
Close the currently active window (at the image above it is “Viewer”). The menu’s text changes dynamically whenever you activate (bring the focus to) other window. The active window has the checkbox ticked in front of (described later on).
- Minimize
This is the standard option that minimizes the Main window and places the icon in a system tray.
- Zoom
Zoom in the Viewer.
- Hide Movie Controls
This menu item simply hides Movie Controls.
- Open (Close) Zoom Drawer
Use this option to open or close Zoom Drawer in Movie Controls.
- Viewer
This option allows you to activate (get focus to) the Viewer window. Once active it will be checked.
- Playlist
This option allows you to activate (get focus to) or hide Playlist window. Once active it will be checked.
- SWF info
This option allows you to activate (get focus to) or hide SWF info window. Once active it will be checked. Note: this menu item is disabled if no movie was loaded.
- Bring all to front
If some of the SWF & FLV Player windows are overlapped with other applications, use this options to bring them to front (get focus).
Help
- SWF & FLV Player Help
Use this option to launch User Manual which you are currently reading.
- Flash Optimizer
This option provides the link to Flash Optimizer which is other Eltima Software product for Mac OS (requires internet connection).
- SWF to FLA Converter
Swf Player Mac Software Recovery Tool
This option provides the link to SWF to FLA Converter for Mac OS (requires internet connection).