Flash - SWF
Adobe Flash was discontinued at the end of 2020. All major browsers and macOS have removed Flash plugin support, so SWF files can no longer be played in a browser. File Juicer can still extract images from SWF files.
Extracting images from SWF
File Juicer can extract JPEG, PNG and GIF images embedded in SWF files. Flash can apply alpha channels to JPEG images internally, but since JPEG does not support transparency that information is not preserved in the extracted files.
SWF files inside EXE files
Flash files were sometimes wrapped in Windows EXE files for distribution as standalone applications. File Juicer can extract the SWF from most of these by stripping the Windows wrapper.
Playing SWF files
Ruffle is an open-source Flash emulator that can play many SWF files on macOS today. It runs as a desktop application and supports a large portion of ActionScript 2 content. Compatibility with complex ActionScript 3 games and applications varies.
Flash Video
Flash Video (FLV files) are a separate format from SWF. See the FLV page for details.