After updating to El Capitan I just discovered that all of my .swf files were inaccessible since Adobe Device Central CS5.5 required Legacy Java SE 6 runtime for it to be functional.
So I downloaded that (https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1572 – October 2017) and installed same.

That didn't help: I was left with Device Central stalled at "Initializing Library ...", which I had to forcequit ... repeatedly.

Back to square 1. Any thoughts towards a (re)solution?

Note: Used to be that just dragging and dropping the .swf file onto my browser yielded the desired playability. That is apparently no longer possible.

You don’t need any Adobe software or J6 to play .flv clips. Try QuickTime Player instead. The old version 7.7 will likely play your clips immediately (drop the clips on the QT icon), while QT 10 may have to convert the clip before playing it. Since QT 10 is a rather sorry excuse for a Player with regard to many ‘nonstandard’ codecs, it may not be able to convert all your clips. In that case, try VLC Player (arguably a must-have in your software library), or (decidedly 2nd choice) a player like Elmedia Player. All items linked to are free. Let us know what works for you and what you like best!

That may have been Flash functionality; have you got it installed?

?! I've got .swf files. I have no idea what .flv files are.


My version of QT Player is 10.4 and doesn't recognize .swf files as playable.


I've had VLC 1.1.12 (2011) for many years and had forgotten about it. It works nicely with some of my .swf files; others it won't recognize or deforms when trying to play.
Should I update my version of VLC (which is already 64-bit)?

I'm running Firefox 58.0 with the latest Shockwave Flash (28.0).

I just found Can't load local flash files in firefox.

"Chosen solution" sounds like your answer.

For authority, see Flash can now be loaded only from HTTP/HTTPS

Nope. Tried it and nothing happened. Not even the files which opened under VLC were amenable.
I'm going to try a newer version of VLC (2.2.8) as well as Elmedia Player (6.9)and/or another browser such as Opera (50).

That's curious!

The "fix" seems to have worked in all other instances linked to these search results.

More: I haven't got any .swf files, so I can't check, but perhaps you've now got to use command-O (or its Firefox equivalent if such is the case) rather than dragging and dropping the .swf files onto your browser...?

If you can link me to a .swf file I'll take a look.

All of my .swf files are 'ancient' (more than 10-year-old) downloads in my archives which have no external access information. So that's a dead end.

I did what I outlined in my previous post. The only app which gives me some quasi-reliable playability is Elmedia Player 6.9 — but even that won't open/play some of the .swf files that latest VLC 2.2.8 will. Very strange. But at least I can get to them now.

The Flash player which is sanctioned by Firefox — which should play .swf files (after making the necessary configuration changes noted earlier) — still doesn't. Equally strange.

I clearly made a mistake by reading .swf as .flv. No clue why, but there it is, sorry. These formats are related but not identical: see HERE and HERE for some details.

That said, apart from QT 7.7 (NOT 10.x), VLC (yes, by all means update) and Elmedia Player, you might also want to try Chrome, which comes with Flash functionality built in. I’m not sure it currently handles .swf files like post-v55 Firefox, but trying cannot hurt and might help. I understand you’re bandwidth limited, but having Chrome can be quite useful. FWIW, I use it for certain web video clips Safari doesn’t like.

You just missed my update.
I've repeatedly tried to download a current version of Chrome for the Mac, but given that I have to access that website via a Windows platform, both Internet Explorer and Google Chrome will NOT allow me to download a Mac version, insisting rather that I take an .exe file. So, there appears to be no standalone way of obtaining a Chrome .dmg file (as there is with virtually every other browser). {sigh}
If you know of a reliable/secure site which offers such, please advise.

I cannot readily try a download under Windows anymore, but asked my son to look into that. Meanwhile, I used to download Mac software under Windows all the time until 2011, although I was usually doing that via a download site for Mac software, like MacUpdate. Yes, I realize that the Chrome website offers you a download based on the browser/OS you’re using, but if you haven’t done so already it’s worth giving the ‘Mac middleman’ approach a shot. I’ll update this as soon as I hear something definite from my son.

Update: try the following links to download Chrome for Mac on a Windows machine:
https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/de...mp;platform=mac
or:
https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/browser/?platform=mac

These are older suggestions (1, 2), which as I said I cannot readily try, but one or both may still work. Even so, as Urquahart mentioned, Chrome may not be able to handle your .swf clips, but you won’t know for sure until you try….

Try this link for current version of Chrome (v64.0.3282.140 as of today) (67.9 MB). It won’t open/play/interpret .swf files though (I tried it), and even handles them like newly download files, with a security warning.
There is a stand-alone Flash player app that does work on my test .swf files: Adobe Flash Player App 28.0.0.137 for OS X 10.9 or later (16.9 MB).

As Flash is deprecated, highly insecure, and at end-of-life (no further development), you should consider tossing the files, or converting them. The era of Shockwave Flash is over. Playback will get more problematic in the future.

Urquhart & alternaut:
Many thanks for pointing to possible Chrome standalone downloading sites. I'll glom onto a copy asap.

As for Flash Player: For obvious security reasons I'm leery of installing a standalone player. The only reason I have Shockwave Flash as an add-on in Firefox is because it's one of the few plugins that Mozilla has vetted for use with same. With Firefox Quantum most of my previous extensions and plugins are no longer supported by Firefox and were disabled; Firefox, on the other hand, improved its functionality and most of those older bits were no longer 'necessary'.

A thought... If you've still got your old version of Firefox (in Time Machine?) you may be able to install it alongside your new version and use it when necessary.

I could reinstall Firefox 52.5.3 esr (which I only a couple days ago expunged from my Applications folder) since I keep .dmg files of most apps. [I can't recall ever testing out whether that version of Firefox would actually open/play .swf files.]

But for the moment my issue with .swf file accessibility has been quasi-satisfactorily resolved with Elmedia Player and VLC.

In theory it should, because the functionality change occurred in v 55, but since the ESRs are updated for security tweaks, one of which was the change, maybe, maybe not.

But it's a thought to keep in mind in the event of an eventuality.

As Urquhart pointed out Flash was long ago deprecated by Adobe and placed into Open Source where it surfaced as "Gnash", but the last Gnash update I can find was six years ago. If you really want to retain your 10 year old .swf videos you might consider conversion to current formats. The App Store catalogs over 20 converters many of which date back to 2012 and should be easily compatible with El Capitan.

So I did, grabbing a copy of Google Chrome 64, which I duly installed.

Assessment: What a piece of crap. It even refused to connect me with FineTunedMac. So I'll just keep it in case of a case.

While I concur with the ‘Flash-begone’ sentiment, some perspective seems to be in order. Of course there’s always the option to abandon .swf files, particularly if they can be converted, but some may be disinclined to do so in certain cases. For instance, what to do with swf-based games or apps, which are not easily converted and may not be available in other formats? Unless you already have exploits lurking on your Mac or are generally oblivious to online risks and enabling surfing behavior, there is little reason not to judiciously use flash locally for the occasional legacy game or app, same as you might want to retain Java for important apps or applets.

ShockWave Flash and FLash Video.

SWF are containers, and they can contain FLV files/objects.

FLV is basically going to be something like an MP4 video. SWF more often contains animation video and interactive elements.


I use iSwiff to view SWF and FLV files

https://echoone.com/iswiff/


it's nice that iSwiff seems to have no problems dealing with animations and interactive elements. If you find say an SWF (flash) game online and can download it, you can play the game offline (usually) with iSwiff, without an internet connection. It's quite handy.

iSwiff is the bee's knees ... but a few of my .swf files still require that I open/play them with VLC.

I used to create a few lines of HTML locally that reference the object and let safari open it.

If I knew what that meant and how to do it*, I might give it a shot. But as things stand, I'm good to go.

[* Remember: I was easily flummoxed by the C-prompt in the mid-'80s and so was an easy convert to the Mac when it first showed up (and ever since). But that doesn't mean that I'm any more savvy now than I was then. {sigh}