Adobe Flash Player - Release History

Release History

  • Macromedia Flash Player 2 (1997)
    • Mostly vectors and motion, some bitmaps, limited audio
    • Support of stereo sound, enhanced bitmap integration, buttons, the Library, and the capability to tween color changes.
  • Macromedia Flash Player 3 (1998)
    • Added alpha transparency, licensed MP3 compression
    • Brought improvements to animation, playback, and publishing, as well as the introduction of simple script commands for interactivity.
  • Macromedia Flash Player 4 (May 1999)
    • Saw the introduction of streaming MP3s and the Motion Tween. Initially, the Flash Player plug-in was not bundled with popular web browsers and users had to visit Macromedia website to download it; As of 2000, however, the Flash Player was already being distributed with all AOL, Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers. Two years later it shipped with all releases of Windows XP. The install-base of the Flash Player reached 92 percent of all Internet users.
  • Macromedia Flash Player 5 (August 2000)
    • A major leap forward in capability, with the evolution of Flash's scripting capabilities as released as ActionScript.
    • Saw the ability to customize the authoring environment's interface.
    • Macromedia Generator was the first initiative from Macromedia to separate design from content in Flash files. Generator 2.0 was released in April 2001 and featured real-time server-side generation of Flash content in its Enterprise Edition. Generator was discontinued in 2002 in favor of new technologies such as Flash Remoting, which allows for seamless transmission of data between the server and the client, and ColdFusion Server.
    • In October 2000, usability guru Jakob Nielsen wrote a polemic article regarding usability of Flash content entitled "Flash: 99% Bad". (Macromedia later hired Nielsen to help them improve Flash usability.)
  • Macromedia Flash Player 6 (version 6.0.21.0, codenamed Exorcist) (March 2002)
    • Support for the consuming Flash Remoting (AMF) and Web Service (SOAP)
    • Supports ondemand/live audio and video streaming (RTMP)
    • Support for screenreaders via Microsoft Active Accessibility
    • Added Sorenson Spark video codec for Flash Video
    • Support for video, application components, shared libraries, and accessibility.
    • Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX, also released in 2002, allowed video to be streamed to Flash Player 6 (otherwise the video could be embedded into the Flash movie).
  • Macromedia Flash Player 7 (version 7.0.14.0, codenamed Mojo) (September 2003)
    • Supports progressive audio and video streaming (HTTP)
    • Supports ActionScript 2.0, an Object-Oriented Programming Language for developers
    • Ability to create charts, graphs and additional text effects with the new support for extensions (sold separately), high fidelity import of PDF and Adobe Illustrator 10 files, mobile and device development and a forms-based development environment. ActionScript 2.0 was also introduced, giving developers a formal Object-Oriented approach to ActionScript. V2 Components replaced Flash MX's components, being rewritten from the ground up to take advantage of ActionScript 2.0 and Object-Oriented principles.
    • In 2004, the "Flash Platform" was introduced. This expanded Flash to more than the Flash authoring tool. Flex 1.0 and Breeze 1.0 were released, both of which utilized the Flash Player as a delivery method but relied on tools other than the Flash authoring program to create Flash applications and presentations. Flash Lite 1.1 was also released, enabling mobile phones to play Flash content.
  • Macromedia Flash Player 8 (version 8.0.22.0, codenamed Maelstrom) (August 2005)
    • Support for runtime loading of GIF and PNG images
    • New video codec (On2 VP6)
    • Improved runtime performance and runtime bitmap caching
    • Live filters and blendmodes
    • File upload and download capabilities
    • New text-rendering engine, the Saffron Type System
    • ExternalAPI subsystem introduced to replace fscommand
    • On December 3, 2005, Adobe Systems acquired Macromedia and its product portfolio (including Flash).
  • Adobe Flash Player 9 (version 9.0.15.0, codenamed Zaphod and previously named Flash Player 8.5) (June 2006)
    • New ECMAScript scripting engine, ActionScript Virtual Machine AVM2. AVM1 retained for compatibility.
    • ActionScript 3 via AVM2.
    • E4X, which is a new approach to parsing XML.
    • Support for binary sockets.
    • Support for Regular Expressions and namespaces.
    • ECMAScript 4 virtual machine donated to Mozilla Foundation and named Tamarin.
  • Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 1 (version 9.0.28.0, codenamed Marvin) (November 2006)
    • Support for full-screen mode.
  • Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 2 (version Mac/Windows 9.0.47.0 and Linux 9.0.48.0, codenamed Hotblack) (July 2007)
    • Security Update
  • Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 3 (version 9.0.115.0, codenamed Moviestar or Frogstar) (December 2007)
    • H.264
    • AAC (HE-AAC, AAC Main Profile, and AAC-LC)
    • New Flash Video file format F4V based on the ISO Base Media File Format (MPEG-4 Part 12)
    • Support for container formats based on the ISO base media file format
  • Adobe Flash Player 10 (version 10.0.12.36, codenamed Astro) (October 2008)
    • New Features
      • 3D object transformations
      • Custom filters via Pixel Bender
      • Advanced text support
      • Speex audio codec
      • Real Time Media Flow Protocol (RTMFP)
      • Dynamic sound generation
      • Vector data type
    • Enhanced Features
      • Larger bitmap support
      • Graphics drawing API
      • Context menu
      • Hardware acceleration
      • Anti-aliasing engine (Saffron 3.1)
      • Read/write clipboard access
      • WMODE
  • Adobe Flash Player 10.1 (version 10.1.53.64, codenamed Argo) (June 2010)
    • Reuse of Bitmap data copies for better memory management
    • Improved garbage collector
    • Hardware-based H.264 video decoding
    • HTTP Dynamic Streaming
    • Peer-assisted networking and Multicast
    • Support for browser privacy modes
    • Multi-touch APIs
    • For Macs/OSX 10.4 ppc or later
      • Using Cocoa UI for Macs
      • Use of double-buffered OpenGL context for fullscreen
      • Use of Core Animation
  • Adobe Flash Player 10.2 (version 10.2.152.26, codenamed Spicy) (February 2011)
    • Stage Video, a full hardware-accelerated video pipeline
    • Internet Explorer 9 hardware-accelerated rendering support
    • Custom native mouse cursors
    • Multiple monitor full-screen support
    • Enhanced sub-pixel rendering for text
  • Adobe Flash Player 10.3 (version 10.3.181.14, codenamed Wasabi) (May 2011)
    • Media Measurement (video analytics for websites; desktop only)
    • Acoustic Echo Cancellation (acoustic echo cancellation, noise suppression, voice activity detection, automatic compensation for microphone input levels; desktop only)
    • Integration with browser privacy controls for managing local storage (ClearSiteData NPAPI)
    • Native Control Panel
    • Auto-Update notification for Mac OS
  • Adobe Flash Player 11 (version 11.0.1.152, codenamed Serrano) (October 2011)
    • Desktop only
      • Stage 3D Accelerated Graphics Rendering
        • Desktop: Windows (DirectX 9), Mac OS X (Intel processor only) and Linux (OpenGL 1.3), SwiftShader fallback
        • Mobile: Android and iOS (OpenGL ES 2)
      • H.264/AVC Software Encoding for Cameras
      • Native 64-bit
      • Asynchronous Bitmap Decoding
      • TLS Secure Sockets
    • Desktop and Mobile
      • Stage Video Hardware Acceleration
      • Native extension libraries
        • Desktop: Windows (.dll), OS X (.framework)
        • Mobile: Android (.jar, .so), iOS (.a)
      • JPEG XR decoding
      • G.711 Audio Compression for Telephony
      • Protected HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS)
      • Unlimited bitmap size
      • LZMA SWF compression
    • Mobile only
      • H.264/AAC Playback
      • Front-facing Camera
      • Background Audio Playback
      • Device Speaker Control
      • 16 and 32-bit color depth
  • Adobe Flash Player 11.1 (version 11.1.102.55, codenamed Anza) (November 2011)
    • Last version of the browser plug-in for mobile devices
    • iOS 5 native extensions for AIR
    • StageText: Native text input UI for Android
    • Security enhancements
  • Adobe Flash Player 11.2 (codenamed Brannan) (March 2012)
    • The Windows version offers automatic updater options.
  • Adobe Flash Player 11.3
    • No new features.
  • Adobe Flash Player 11.4
    • Flash Player only
      • ActionScript Workers
      • Sandbox Bridge support
      • Licensing support: Flash Player Premium Features for Gaming
    • Flash Player and AIR
      • Stage3D "constrained" profile for increased GPU reach
      • LZMA support for ByteArray
      • StageVideo attachCamera/Camera improvements
      • Compressed texture with alpha support for Stage3D
      • DXT Encoding
    • AIR only
      • Deprecated Carbon APIs for AIR
      • Direct AIR deployment using ADT
      • Push Notifications for iOS
      • Ambient AudioPlaybackMode
      • Exception Support in Native Extensions for iOS

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