p/convert-swf-to-video/

[giscus[bot]]

p/convert-swf-to-video/

How to Convert Adobe Flash SWF Flash file to Video/Movie/MP4/MKV file Swivel For Windows, the easiest way to convert SWF to video is Swivel by Newgrounds
To use, just follow the instructions on the website.
Can also convert SWF that is tricky/interactive/complex on Manual Mode.
GNU Gnash Using the dump-gnash of the GNU Gnash. My recommended option.
Can be used in Linux and Windows (on Windows Subsystem for Linux)
Converting SWF animations to videos is easy if your SWF files are not tricky, not interactive, that plays when opened automatically.

https://www.animmouse.com/p/convert-swf-to-video/

[UriF]

Sorry, I am not able to find dump-gnash anywhere. I found out source code but it is unclear how compile this code at Windows. Just mentioned some dependencies. Binary files has been removed. I was able to find a binary gnash.exe but it it is something different. To tell you the true I want to convert my old collection of swf but I don't satisfied with methods I found @ web. Thank you in advance.

P.S. You can extract original audio using SWF Tools or Universal Extractor (or any other standard archiver just rename extension to zip).

P.P.S. If you decided to use professional paid converter then ONLY Xilisift & Bigasoft extract FROM ANY SOURCES (all of other return only first 15-20 sec or crash). Swivel doesn't extract swf without video (yes, I have some such swf files). JPEXS Free Flash Decompiler crashed at such audio swf files

P.P.P.S. I also tried old version of Macromedia Flash and Adobe After Effect because swf is an originally Adobe product and they advertise them everywhere. The first product extracted avi, a second one created a NEW COMPOSITION and render to mp4. Both applications return video without sound. I found out the following solution.

1. Extracted audio stream using archiver.
2. Converted avi + mp3 into mp4 using ffmpeg (Macromedia Flash Pro)
3. or create composition by adding 2 files swf + mp3 and render them in tandem (Adobe After Effects)

What's wrong? My 2 min 2.5 mb swf became more than 100 Mb(!!!). After optimization I got 30 Mb. Swivel ~60 Mb. Paid analogs (used trial versions) returned 13-15 mb. I got approx the same result when I converted avi into mp4 with preset slow and 27 cfr.

That's why I totally dissatisfied with all of these methods of conversion/extraction video and audio from swf. Taking into account that it is not question of dead and alive I decided to postpone my conversions until I will not find a satisfactory product.

Therefore if you are not a web developer and you don't want to make any profit forget about Adobe products as buggy monsters. And the last moment. Adobe made a decision to stop use flash but a lot of people still have their short videos and games and these people still looking for alternative solutions to use their propertied. If they made a decision to stop manufacture their product and make Microsoft remove it everywhere it is a total disrespect to users not to replace with something different. Sorry, it is sounds disgusting.

[AnimMouse]

Thank you for your insightful comment, I haven't updated this post since I have started this website and I realized I wrote something confusing back then. The last time I used dump-gnash is when I tried to remaster Happy Tree Friends in 8k 4320p and it worked perfectly.

For Windows, a complied binary for native Windows does not exist, but you can run the Linux version using Windows Subsystem for Linux.

I will try and update the post for your methods you used.

[UriF]

Later I found out that there are 2 executables - gnash & dump-gnash. I was able to find gnash.exe but I didn't find dump-gnash.exe.

I contacted gnash developers by email and they reply that gnash for Windows has been done for experiments only but they never tried to make dump-gnash for Windows. They are not interested in further development. Moreover they surprised why I am interested in gnash in 2023 when gnash doesn't support Active Script 3.0. I don't want to install Unix sub-sustem because there is old desktop and I have free 100 MB at SSD and 300 Gb at HDD. I plan to buy a new one in 2025 when Intel will start to manufacture processors 14 Gen & video cards Battlemage to be supported AV1 codec which allow me to re-encode (transcode???) my old video into more compact mp4 (or something else). Therefore I don't want to keep my old swf till I will buy a new computer.

[AnimMouse]

I contacted gnash developers by email and they reply that gnash for Windows has been done for experiments only but they never tried to make dump-gnash for Windows.

Yes, dump-gnash does not exist for Windows, but for the Gnash SWF player, it exists.

they surprised why I am interested in gnash in 2023 when gnash doesn't support Active Script 3.0.

Tell them because dump-gnash is still the best open source SWF to video out there. Ruffle has an exporter, but it only supports exporting to PNG at the moment.

I don't want to install Unix sub-system because there is old desktop and I have free 100 MB at SSD and 300 GB at HDD.

You can also use VirtualBox and install Ubuntu on your HDD so that it does not fill up the drive unlike Windows Subsystem for Linux.

video cards Battlemage to be supported AV1 codec which allow me to re-encode (transcode???) my old video into more compact mp4 (or something else). Therefore I don't want to keep my old swf till I will buy a new computer.

Hardware encoders are not really designed for quality, they are designed for fast encodes like streaming. It is much better if you use software encoders like SVT-AV1 if you really want to compress your old videos.

[UriF]

I know everything what you wrote. I am not able to find dump-gnush for Windows. That's it.

[UriF]

At last I made a final decision

1. Extract audio from swf into aac because mp4 use
   ffmpeg -i input.swf -codec:a aac -q:a 0 -ac 2 -ar 44100 -af volume=-5dB output.aac

You can play with cbr instead of vbr by setting from 128 to 192
ffmpeg -i input.swf -codec:a aac -b:a 192k -ac 2 -ar 44100 -af volume=-5dB output.aac

2. Convert swf to mp4 using Xilisoft Video Converter which keep initial video dimensions. Use high video quality (16-25 Mb file - original 2.5 Mb swf length 2 min 14 sec)
   a. Moyea SWF to Video Converter Pro keeps initial dimensions but increase clip length. As a result audio and video de-synchronized
   b. Bigasoft Video Converter doesn't keep initial dimensions. Therefore resulting video distorted

3. Replace audio in mp4 file with aac and decrease file size using -preset slow and -crf >=26. You can try up to 30. When I used 29 my video "float". I use color schema for HD video. I got ~8mb mp4. I believe it is satisfactory
   ffmpeg -i otput_from_convertor.mp4 -i output.aac -filter:v "scale=in_color_matrix=auto:in_range=auto:out_color_matrix=bt709:out_range=tv" -pix_fmt:v "yuv420p" -colorspace:v "bt709" -color_primaries:v "bt709" -color_trc:v "bt709" -color_range:v "tv" -c:v libx264 -c:a copy -map 0:v:0 -map 1:a:0 -preset slow -crf 27 output_final.mp4

[AnimMouse]

Good idea, will try your method.

[UriF]

Gnash developers explained me that problem is that mp4 is a raster video when swf is a vector one. Therefore it is impossibly to create a direct converter from swf to mp4. All of converters de-facto run Action Script and record a screen. The success of swf is a highest compression compare to raster video. That's why you will never get file size like swf. That's why I believe 7.9 mb mp4 from 2.5 mb swf is OK.