Importing video into Flash

Importing Video into Flash

(beginner to intermediate level)

Flash video is very quickly becoming the defacto choice for video on the web. As flash video plays within the existing flash player and over 90 percent of internet connected computers have a version of the flash player choosing the flash video format is going to allow the widest number of viewers to easily access your video content.

If you own Flash 8 you can easily convert existing quicktime, avi and windows media player files into the .flv format during the import process or if you have Flash 8 Pro version using the stand alone video encoder. The Flash 8 Video Encoder application will allow you to batch process files! Other options for converting your existing media files include Soreson Spark and Flix. This tutorial will walk you through the process of importing and encoding video using the Flash Import Wizard.

Importing Video Files into Flash using the Import Video Wizard

Start the Flash program

Create a new Flash document by choosing File > New > Flash Document and click OK or clicking Ctrl + N (win) or Cmd + N (Mac) and choosing Flash document and click OK.

Choose Import > Import video
import video menu item

Browse to the file on your local hard-drive you wish to import (flash supports many video formats including avi, quicktime and windows media player). You can also reference a video already uploaded to a webserver. In this instance we are choosing an avi file on our local drive. Once you have selected the video you wish to import, Click OK.

import video options

Choose a Deployment:

Choose from Progressive Download, Stream from Flash Video Streaming Service, Stream from Flash Communication Server or Embed video in SWF and play in timeline. For the purposes of this tutorial we will assume that you are not set up with a video streaming service or using Flash Communication Server. Of the two remaining options - Embed in SWF is recommended only if the clip is short and has no audio as synchronization errors can occur with this method. In general unless you have access to a streaming service or Flash Communication server the choice would be Progressive download from a web server. This will create an external .flv file that will need to be uploaded as well as your published SWF file. Once you have made your choice, click Next.

flash video deployment options