Ruffle (software)

open source emulator for Adobe Flash

Ruffle is an open source program that runs Flash content. It is written in Rust. The emulator can be ran on Windows, macOS, Linux or major web browsers.

Ruffle
Developer(s)Mike Welsh
kmeisthax
Nathan "Dinnerbone" Adams
Callum Thomson
relrelb
Repository
Written inRust
TypeMultimedia
LicenseMIT license, Apache License 2.0
Websiteruffle.rs Edit this on Wikidata

Background

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Adobe Flash was very popular to use for many types of media, such as videos, games and interactive applications, in the 2000s and early 2010s.[1]

HTML5, a version of HTML which does these things better, slowly made Flash less popular.[2] From 2015, Adobe has openly said HTML5 is better because it is a full open standard.[1] Flash continued to become less popular.[2] In 2017, Adobe said they plan to retire Flash by 2020.[3]

It is often not recommended to create Flash content now, but being able to run old SWF files has been a major digital preservation worry.[4]

Google Labs closed Swiffy, which could convert Flash content to HTML5, in 2016.[5]

History

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In 2016, Mike Welsh started the project, which was named Fluster.[6][7]

Ruffle is open source. Its source code is available on GitHub.[8]

Websites using Ruffle

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Some websites have said they will use Ruffle instead of Flash as early as 2019. For example:

Support

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Ruffle can run older Flash content, which uses ActionScript 1.0 or ActionScript 2.0. ActionScript 3.0 support will come.[14][15]

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References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 "Flash, HTML5 and Open Web Standards". Adobe Blog. 2015-12-01. Archived from the original on 2020-08-09. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Usage Statistics of Flash as Client-side Programming Language on Websites, January 2021". w3techs.com. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
  3. "Flash & The Future of Interactive Content". Adobe Blog. 2017-07-25. Archived from the original on 2017-12-02. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
  4. Fiadotau, Mikhail (Jan 6, 2021). "Growing old on Newgrounds: The hopes and quandaries of Flash game preservation". First Monday. 25, Number 8 - 3 August 2020. Archived from the original on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  5. "Bannière Flash en HTML5 : Google arrête Swiffy". Génération-NT (in French). Retrieved 2021-02-07.
  6. "Initial commit · ruffle-rs/ruffle@b979ac2". GitHub. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
  7. "Update README · ruffle-rs/ruffle@0d9d5fe". GitHub. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
  8. ruffle-rs/ruffle, Ruffle, 2020-07-24, retrieved 2020-07-24
  9. "Flash Emulation & Brave BAT". Newgrounds.com. Retrieved 2021-02-07.
  10. "Coolmath Games and Flash". www.coolmathgames.com. Archived from the original on 23 February 2020. Retrieved 2021-02-07.
  11. 11.0 11.1 Jason Scott (November 19, 2020). "Flash Animations Live Forever at the Internet Archive". Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  12. "The Future of Flash on Armor Games". Armor Games. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
  13. "Help page -- Fur Affinity [dot] net". www.furaffinity.net. Retrieved 2021-02-07.
  14. "ruffle-rs/ruffle". GitHub. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
  15. "Ruffle". Ruffle. Retrieved 2021-01-13.

Other websites

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