Archive notice: This article was originally published on December 5, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Adobe today announced the availability of Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 3, which previously ran as a beta version under the code name Moviestar. Adobe Flash Player 9 thus now integrates the H.264 video standard, which is also used in Blu-Ray and HD-DVD video players, and High Efficiency AAC (HE-AAC) audio. Thanks to hardware acceleration and multicore support, the update also offers optimised full-screen playback of high-resolution videos on all common operating systems and browsers. The combination of Adobe Flash Player 9 and Adobe Flash Media Server 3 (also announced today) makes it possible to offer video content in high-definition quality to a large online audience. Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 3 is now available as a free download.
H.264 support, already included as an encoding option in Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects, is now also integrated into the Adobe Flash product family. This support also extends to applications based on the Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR). AIR is a cross-operating-system runtime environment that allows developers to use their existing knowledge to create Rich Internet Applications (RIA) for the desktop. Adobe Media Player, expected in early 2008 and the first Adobe application based on Adobe AIR, will include both H.264 video and HE-AAC audio support. Adobe Media Player is built on Flash technology and offers viewers numerous ways to watch their videos anytime and anywhere, even outside the web browser.
As open industry standards, H.264 and HE-AAC are already integrated into existing authoring and publishing workflows. Content creators can therefore use their existing H.264 material and play back the native content seamlessly in Adobe Flash Player. This enables publishers to encode content once and then distribute it across different media. This provides the opportunity to reduce costs and save time.
Further links:
- Adobe Flash Player
Download Flashplayer
