Adobe Flash

Adobe Flash (formerly 2005 Macromedia Flash) was an Animation software sold by Adobe. It was used to create and view animated content that could be placed on web pages. Adobe Flash was used commonly on the Internet by web browsers.^[6]

Adobe Flash

Logo used for Adobe Flash Professional
Developer(s)	Harman (2021–present for enterprise users)[1][2][3][4] Zhongcheng (2017–present in China)[5] Adobe Inc. (2005–2020) Macromedia (1996–2005) FutureWave (1993–1996)
Initial release	January 1996; 29 years ago (1996-01)
License	Proprietary
Website	adobe.com/flash

Flash was created by FutureWave (a multimedia company) in 1995. Then it was called "FutureSplash Animator" (this was Flash 1.0). FutureWave along with Flash were soon bought by Macromedia around 1997, who in December 2005 was again bought by Adobe Systems. From Flash version 2 to 8 it was called "Macromedia Flash", now it is called "Adobe Flash".

In 2012, Adobe discontinued the Solaris version of Flash Player, and made the Linux version only for Google Chrome. The Android version was removed from Google Play.

In 2020, Adobe discontinued Adobe Flash, because Adobe claims that WebGL, HTML5, and WebAssembly serve as good alternatives for Adobe Flash.^[7]

Flash games

Screenshots and a recording of Flash games QWOP, Solipskier, and Hundreds

Flash video games are popular on the Internet, with websites like Newgrounds, Kongregate, and Armor Games are dedicated to Flash-based games. Popular Flash games include Transformice, Farmville, Alien Hominid, QWOP and Club Penguin.^[8][9]

Adobe AIR allows the creation of Flash-based mobile games, which can be published to the Google Play and the Apple App Store.^[10][11][12]