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SWF (pronounced like swiff by some) is a file format used to describe movies built of mainly two elements: vector based objects and images. The newest versions also accept sounds and many different possible interaction with the end user.
The file format was first created by Macromedia and had a main goal: create small files of highly entertaining animations. The idea was to have a format which could be reused by a player running on any system and which would work with slower network (such as a browser used with a modem). Plugins to play Swf files in web browsers are avaliable from Macromedia for most desktop operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac and Linux on Intel. Macromedia claim the large majority of web users now have a swf plugin installed.
The format is fairly simple, albeit binary, and therefore not as imediately readable as SVG, an XML-based rival. No overall or general-purpose compression techniques are used, rather the format aims to store all data using as few bits as possible, therefore reducing redundancy.
Swf format is an open format, which anyone can implement playing or authoring software for without paying royalties. Swfdec is an open source player inplementation[1] (http://www.schleef.org/swfdec/).
See also: Macromedia Flash and Rich Internet Applications.
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