Flash SWF To AVI Converter

Purpose

To convert SWF files to an AVI video format that can be further processed by other video editing software. Intentionally very basic but incredibly useful.

Supported Platforms

Windows XP – Windows 10

Requirements

Your Browser should have a Flash plugin installed. On my old Windows XP system this translates to a file:-

C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\Flash\flash.ocx

although it may be different on later versions of Windows.

Installation

There is no installer. Simply unzip the flashplayer.exe file and store in a folder on your computer. You may wish to create a folder in c:\Program Files\ such as c:\Program Files\flashplayer\ and put the file in there. You can create a desktop shortcut or whatever for your convenience.

Functionality

Loading a SWF File

You start by loading a file by clicking the Open button. This loads the swf into memory and starts to play it. You can stop by clicking the pause (“) button. The Convert button should now be visible.

Converting a SWF File

Click the Convert button and you should be presented with a bar with a dropdown that allows selection of a compression technique (codec) to use when saving the AVI file. I highly recommend X264 x264vfw. You can then select codec specific options using the the Compress Options button. If X264 x264vfw does not appear as an option, you can try some other codecs but I have had limited success with others. Some just don’t work and some give massive files or low quality. You should be able to get a copy of X264 x264vfw for your version of Windows by searching for it, SourceForge should be a reliable source, but satisfy yourself that the version you get is safe and free from viruses etc.

Then just click the SAVE button to begin the conversion. It will visually display each frame to render it and (slowly) build up the AVI file. The program and your computer may seem unresponsive during this time as it is CPU intensive.

Notes (bugs etc.)

Audio (Lack Of)

Audio is not converted even though it may play. The rendered file should have no audio track.

Interactive Elements (Lack of)

The entire SWF file should be rendered in frame order, even though using a regular player there may be interactive points where playing would stop and interaction may then jump to different sections etc.

Not working?

  • Make sure SWF file is not corrupted
  • Try a very simple, basic SWF file first
  • Try different codecs and different options within each codec. For example there is a Disable all CPU optimizations checkbox in the X264 x264vfw codec mentioned above. Try enabling that and trying other configurations.
  • See feedback below

Security

One reason the SWF format has lost favour is due to many security issues it has had over the years. I cannot say for sure that this application is free from such a risk, but as it does not render the interactive content, the risk should be minimal. Additionally, I can confidently say that the AVI files that it renders will be as safe as any others.

Feedback

This project is about 10 years old and although I recently ‘dug it out’ as I found incredibly useful when I could not find a similar utility elsewhere! I tried a few that failed or that just did not work as efficiently as this.

I will gratefully accept feedback but I do not plan to make any improvements or bug fixes unless there was a particular demand.

Download

Download Zip file