How to play FLV files

What are FLV files?

An FLV file is a binary file format that offers video "bitmap", limited to one video and one audio stream per file. It is mainly used on the Internet for one or the other version of Flash Player. FLV content may also be embedded in SWF files (which are also a type of Flash file can wrap video streams, audio, or games) submitted by ActionScript external references.

How to open FLV files?

In order to be able to play FLV files, you need a media player that supports Flash Videos. Because FLV is an open format (in the sense that is publicly documented as the encoding and decoding files) all developers who want to make their own video players that support the file extension FLV. The most popular online video players like YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo! Video, and many news providers use FLV players on their websites to provide video content. This is because video "bitmap" in FLV files can be compressed in various ways, and the quality of these video encodings should vary from good to very good.

Flash video is visible on most operating systems, via the widely available Adobe Flash Player plugin and a web browser, or one of several third-party programs such as MPlayer, VLC media player, Quicktime, or any player which uses DirectShow filters (like Media Player Classic, Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center) when the ffdshow filter is installed.

Though the container format itself is open, the codecs used with it are patented.

Macromedia was acquired by Adobe in 2005, so that Macromedia Flash is now Adobe Flash Player.

Tools for converting to and from FLV format files ......