. Status Active until 2020 License Adobe Flash is a deprecated used for production of, and embedded web browser video players. Flash displays text, and to provide animations, video games and applications.

It allows streaming of, and can capture mouse, keyboard, microphone and camera input. Related development platform continues to be supported. May produce Flash graphics and animations using. May produce applications and video games using, or any text editor when used with the SDK. End-users can view Flash content via (for web browsers), (for desktop or ) or third-party players such as (for video games). Adobe Flash Player (supported on, and ) enables end-users to view Flash content using. Enabled viewing Flash content on older, but has been discontinued and superseded.

The programming language allows the development of interactive animations, video games, web applications, desktop applications and mobile applications. Programmers can implement Flash software using an IDE such as Adobe Animate, Adobe Flash Builder, FlashDevelop.

Adobe AIR enables full-featured desktop and mobile applications to be developed with Flash and published for, Nintendo,. Although Flash was previously a dominant platform for online multimedia content, it is slowly being abandoned as Adobe favors a transition to. Flash Player has been deprecated and has an official end-of-life by 2020. However, Adobe will continue to develop, a related technology for building stand-alone applications and games.

Contents. Applications Websites In the early 2000s, Flash was widely installed on, and was commonly used to display interactive, and to playback video and audio content.

In 2005, was founded by former PayPal employees, and it used Flash Player as a means to display compressed video content on the web. Between 2000 and 2010, numerous businesses used Flash-based websites to launch new products, or to create interactive company portals. Notable users include,. After Adobe introduced hardware-accelerated 3D for Flash , Flash websites saw a growth of 3D content for product demonstrations and virtual tours. In 2007, YouTube offered videos in HTML5 format to support the and, which did not support Flash Player.

After a, Adobe stopped developing Flash Player for Mobile, focussing its efforts on Adobe AIR applications and HTML5 animation. In 2015, introduced to convert Flash animation to HTML5, a tool Google would use to automatically convert Flash web ads for mobile devices.

In 2016, Google discontinued Swiffy and its support. In 2015, YouTube switched to HTML5 technology on all devices, however it will preserve the Flash-based video player for older web browsers. RIAs After Flash 5 introduced ActionScript in 2000, developers combined the visual and programming capabilities of Flash to produce interactive experiences and applications for the Web. Such Web-based applications eventually came to be known as 'Rich Internet Applications' (RIAs).

In 2004, Macromedia Flex was released, and specifically targeted the application development market. Flex introduced new components, advanced components, data remoting, and a modern IDE (Flash Builder).

Flex competed with (AJAX) and during its tenure. Flex was upgraded to support integration with remote data sources, using, and others. As of 2015, Flex applications can be published for desktop platforms using Adobe AIR. Between 2006 and 2016, the web service conducted over 9.0 billion speed tests using an RIA built with Adobe Flash.

In 2016, the service shifted to HTML5 due to the decreasing availability of Adobe Flash Player on PCs. As of 2016, and RIAs can be developed with Flash using the ActionScript 3.0 programming language and related tools such as Adobe Flash Builder. Third-party such as FlashDevelop and also enable developers to create Flash games and applications, and are generally similar to. Flex applications are typically built using such as.

Video games. Screenshots and footage of Flash games QWOP, Solipskier, and Hundreds were popular on the Internet, with portals like dedicated to hosting of Flash-based games. Popular games developed with Flash include,.

Adobe introduced various technologies to help build video games, including (to release games for desktop or mobile platforms), (to improve performance), (to convert C-based games to run in Flash), and (to support GPU-accelerated video games). 3D frameworks like and simplified creation of 3D content for Flash. Allows creation of Flash-based, which may be published to the and app stores. Flash is also used to build interfaces and HUDs for 3D video games using, a technology that renders Flash content within non-Flash video games. Scaleform is supported by more than 10 major video game engines including, and, and has been used to provide 3D interfaces for more than since its launch in 2003.

Film and animation. Main articles: and Adobe Animate is one of the common animation programs for low-cost 2D television and commercial animation, in competition with. Notable users of Flash include for productions including and, for, for and, for and, for, among others. Flash is less commonly used for feature-length animated films; however, 2009's, an Irish film, was animated primarily in Adobe Flash, and was nominated for an at the. Several popular online series are currently produced in Flash, such as the -winning, produced by and;;, produced by;, produced by and produced. Designed for traditionally trained cartoonists and animators can publish animations in the format. History FutureWave The precursor to Flash was a product named SmartSketch, published.

The company was founded by, and Michelle Welsh. SmartSketch was a vector drawing application for pen computers running the. When PenPoint failed in the marketplace, SmartSketch was ported to. As the Internet became more popular, FutureWave realized the potential for a vector-based web animation tool that might challenge technology. In 1995, FutureWave modified SmartSketch by adding frame-by-frame animation features and released this new product as FutureSplash Animator on Macintosh and PC. FutureWave approached with an offer to sell them FutureSplash in 1995, but Adobe turned down the offer at that time. Microsoft wanted to create an 'online TV network' and adopted FutureSplash animated content as a central part of it.

Used FutureSplash animations for their subscription-based service Disney's Daily Blast. Launched using FutureSplash. Macromedia In November 1996, FutureSplash was acquired by Macromedia, and Macromedia re-branded and released FutureSplash Animator as Macromedia Flash 1.0. Flash was a two-part system, a graphics and animation editor known as Macromedia Flash, and a player known as Macromedia Flash Player. FutureSplash Animator was an animation tool originally developed for pen-based computing devices.

Due to the small size of the FutureSplash Viewer, it was particularly suited for download on the Web. Macromedia distributed Flash Player as a free browser in order to quickly gain market share. By 2005, more computers worldwide had Flash Player installed than any other Web media format, including,. Macromedia upgraded the Flash system between 1996 and 1999 adding MovieClips, Actions (the precursor to ActionScript), Alpha transparency, and other features. As Flash matured, Macromedia's focus shifted from marketing it as a graphics and media tool to promoting it as a platform, adding scripting and data access capabilities to the player while attempting to retain its small footprint. In 2000, the first major version of ActionScript was developed, and released with Flash 5.

Actionscript 2.0 was released with Flash MX 2004 and supported, improved UI components and other programming features. The last version of Flash released by Macromedia was Flash 8, which focused on graphical upgrades such as filters (blur, drop shadow, etc.), blend modes (similar to ), and advanced features for FLV video.

Adobe Macromedia was acquired by Adobe Systems in 2005, and the entire Macromedia product line including Flash, /, (which has since been discontinued) and is now handled by Adobe. In 2007, Adobe's first version release was Adobe Flash CS3 Professional, the ninth major version of Flash.

It introduced the ActionScript 3.0 programming language, which supported modern programming practices and enabled business applications to be developed with Flash. (built on ) targeted the enterprise market, and was also released the same year. Flex Builder included the Flex SDK, a set of components that included charting, advanced UI, and data services ( Flex Data Services).

In 2008, Adobe released the tenth version of Flash, Adobe Flash CS4. Flash 10 improved animation capabilities within the Flash editor, adding a motion editor panel (similar to ), (bones), basic 3D object animation, object-based animation, and other text and graphics features. Flash Player 10 included an in-built 3D engine (without GPU acceleration) that allowed basic object transformations in 3D space (position, rotation, scaling).

Also in 2008, Adobe released the first version of Adobe Integrated Runtime (later re-branded as Adobe AIR), a runtime engine that replaced Flash Player, and provided additional capabilities to the ActionScript 3.0 language to build desktop and mobile applications. With AIR, developers could access the file system (the user's files and folders), and connected devices such as joystick, gamepad and sensors for the first time. In 2011, Adobe Flash Player 11 was released, and with it the first version of, allowing GPU-accelerated 3D rendering for Flash applications and games on desktop platforms such as. Adobe further improved 3D capabilities from 2011 to 2013, adding support for 3D rendering on Android and iOS platforms, alpha-channels, compressed textures, and other features. Adobe AIR was upgraded to support 64-bit computers, and to allow developers to add additional functionality to the AIR runtime using AIR Native Extensions (ANE). In 2014, Adobe AIR reached a milestone with over 100,000 unique applications built, and over 1 billion installations logged across the world (May 2014).

Adobe AIR was voted the Best Mobile Application Development product at the on two consecutive years (CES 2014 and CES 2015). In 2016, Adobe renamed Flash Professional, the primary authoring software for Flash content, to Adobe Animate to reflect its growing use for authoring HTML5 content in favour of Flash content. Open Screen Project On May 1, 2008, Adobe announced the Open Screen Project, with the intent of providing a consistent application interface across devices such as personal computers,.

When the project was announced, seven goals were outlined: the abolition of licensing fees for Adobe Flash Player and, the removal of restrictions on the use of the Flash and Flash Video (FLV), the publishing of for porting Flash to new devices, and the publishing of The Flash Cast protocol and Action Message Format (AMF), which let Flash applications receive information from remote databases. As of February 2009, the specifications removing the restrictions on the use of SWF and FLV/F4V specs have been published. The Flash Cast protocol—now known as the Mobile Content Delivery Protocol—and AMF protocols have also been made available, with AMF available as an open source implementation,. The list of mobile device providers who have joined the project includes, Motorola, and Nokia, who, together with Adobe, have announced a $10 million Open Screen Project fund. As of 2012, the Open Screen Project is no longer accepting new applications according to partner BSQuare. However paid licensing is still an option for device makers who want to use Adobe software. End of life Although Flash was previously a dominant platform for online multimedia content, it is slowly being abandoned as Adobe favors a transition to HTML5 due to inherent security flaws and significant resources required to maintain the platform.

Restricted the use of Flash on in 2010 due to concerns that it performed poorly on its mobile devices, had negative impact on battery life, and was deemed unnecessary for online content. As a result, it was not adopted by Apple for its smartphone and tablet devices, which also reduced its user base and encouraged wider adoption of HTML5 features such as the and elements, which can replace Flash without the need for plugins.

In 2015, Adobe rebranded its Flash authoring environment as Adobe Animate to emphasize its expanded support for HTML5 authoring, and stated that it would 'encourage content creators to build with new web standards' rather than using Flash. In July 2017, Adobe announced that it would declare Flash to be in 2020, and will cease support, distribution, and security updates to Flash Player.

After the announcement, developers have started a petition to turn Flash into an open-source project, leading to controversy. The Flash Platform will continue in the form of, which Adobe will continue to develop, and, a multi-target open-source implementation of the Flash API. Format FLA Flash source files are in the, and contain graphics and animation, as well as embedded assets such as bitmap images, audio files and FLV video files. The Flash source file format is a proprietary format and Adobe Animate is the only available authoring tool capable of editing such files. Flash source files (.fla) may be compiled into Flash movie files (.swf) using Adobe Animate. Note that FLA files can be edited, but output (.swf) files cannot.

Adobe Flash Cs4 For Mac Os

Main article: Flash movie files are in the SWF format, traditionally called 'ShockWave Flash' movies, 'Flash movies', or 'Flash applications', usually have a.swf, and may be used in the form of a web page plug-in, strictly 'played' in a standalone Flash Player, or incorporated into a self-executing Projector movie (with the.exe extension in ). Flash Video files have a.flv file extension and are either used from within.swf files or played through a flv-aware player, such as, or and with external added.

The use of vector graphics combined with program code allows Flash files to be smaller—and thus allows streams to use less —than the corresponding bitmaps or video clips. For content in a single format (such as just text, video, or audio), other alternatives may provide better performance and consume less power than the corresponding Flash movie, for example when using transparency or making large screen updates such as photographic or text fades. In addition to a vector-rendering engine, the Flash Player includes a virtual machine called the ActionScript Virtual Machine (AVM) for scripting interactivity at run-time, with video, MP3-based audio, and bitmap graphics. As of Flash Player 8, it offers two video codecs: and, and run-time, Progressive JPEG, and capability. Main article: Virtually all browser plugins for video are and cross-platform, including Adobe's offering of Flash Video, which was introduced with Flash version 6. Flash Video has been a popular choice for websites due to the large and programmability of Flash. In 2010, Apple publicly criticized Adobe Flash, including its implementation of video playback for not taking advantage of hardware acceleration, one reason Flash is not to be found on Apple's mobile devices.

Soon after Apple's criticism, Adobe demoed and released a beta version of Flash 10.1, which uses available GPU hardware acceleration even on a Mac. Flash 10.2 beta, released December 2010, adds hardware acceleration for the whole video rendering pipeline. Flash Player supports two distinct modes of video playback, and may not be used for older video content. Such content causes excessive compared to comparable content played with other players. Software Rendered Video Flash Player supports software rendered video since version 6. Such video supports vector animations displayed above the video content.

This obligation may, depending on graphic exposed by the operating system, prohibit using a, like a traditional would use, with the consequence that and scaling must happen in software. Hardware Accelerated Video Flash Player supports hardware accelerated video playback since version 10.2, for, F4V, and video formats. Such video is displayed above all Flash content, and takes advantage of chipsets installed on the user's device. Developers must specifically use the 'StageVideo' technology within Flash Player in order for hardware decoding to be enabled.

Flash Player internally uses technologies such as and to do so. In tests done by in 2008 and 2009, Adobe Flash Player performed better on than and with the same hardware. Performance has later improved for the latter two, on Mac OS X with Flash Player 10.1, and on Linux with Flash Player 11. Flash Audio Flash Audio is most commonly encoded in or AAC however it can also use, Nellymoser and audio codecs. Flash allows sample rates of 11, 22 and 44.1 kHz.

It cannot have 48 kHz audio sample rate, which is the standard TV and DVD sample rate. On August 20, 2007, Adobe announced on its blog that with Update 3 of Flash Player 9, Flash Video will also implement some parts of the international standards. Specifically, Flash Player will work with video compressed in (MPEG-4 Part 10), audio compressed using (MPEG-4 Part 3), the F4V, MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14), M4V, M4A, and multimedia, specification (MPEG-4 Part 17), which is a standardized subtitle format and partial parsing capability for the 'ilst' atom, which is the equivalent uses to store. And will not work in F4V file format.

Adobe also announced that it will be gradually moving away from the FLV format to the standard ISO base media file format owing to functional limits with the FLV structure when streaming H.264. The final release of the Flash Player implementing some parts of MPEG-4 standards had become available in Fall 2007. Adobe Flash Player 10.1 does not have acoustic echo cancellation, unlike the VoIP offerings of Skype and Google Voice, making this and earlier versions of Flash less suitable for group calling or meetings. Flash Player 10.3 Beta incorporates acoustic echo cancellation. Scripting language. Further information: ActionScript is the programming language used by Flash. It is an enhanced superset of the programming language, with a classical -style class model, rather than 's prototype model.

Specifications In October 1998, Macromedia disclosed the Flash Version 3 Specification on its website. It did this in response to many new and often semi-open formats competing with SWF, such as Xara's and Sharp's formats. Several developers quickly created a for producing SWF. In February 1999, MorphInk 99 was introduced, the first third-party program to create SWF files. Macromedia also hired to create a freely available for the SWF file format versions 3 to 5. Macromedia made the Flash Files specifications for versions 6 and later available only under a, but they are widely available from various sites. In April 2006, the Flash SWF file format specification was released with details on the then newest version format (Flash 8).

Although still lacking specific information on the incorporated video compression formats (On2, Sorenson Spark, etc.), this new documentation covered all the new features offered in Flash v8 including new ActionScript commands, expressive filter controls, and so on. The file format specification document is offered only to developers who agree to a license agreement that permits them to use the specifications only to develop programs that can export to the Flash file format. The license does not allow the use of the specifications to create programs that can be used for playback of Flash files. The Flash 9 specification was made available under similar restrictions. In June 2009, Adobe launched the , which made the SWF specification available without restrictions. Previously, developers could not use the specification for making SWF-compatible players, but only for making SWF-exporting authoring software. The specification still omits information on codecs such as, however.

Animation tools Official tools. Main article: The Adobe Animate authoring program is primarily used to design graphics and animation and publish the same for websites, web applications, and video games. The program also offers limited support for audio and video embedding, and ActionScript scripting.

Adobe released, designed to create interactive animation content and export it to a variety of formats, including SWF. LiveMotion failed to gain any notable user base. In February 2003, Macromedia purchased Presedia, which had developed a Flash authoring tool that automatically converted PowerPoint files into Flash. Macromedia subsequently released the new product as Breeze, which included many new enhancements.

Third-party tools. This section needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (March 2016) Adobe AIR was released in 2008, and allows the creation of and using Flash and ActionScript. Notable mobile games built with Flash include,. Using AIR, developers can access the full Adobe Flash functionality, including, and capability.

Adobe AIR also includes additional features such as file system integration, native client extensions, integration and access to connected devices and sensors. AIR applications can be published as native phone applications on certain mobile operating systems, such as ( and above ). The following table explains to what extent Adobe AIR can run on various: Operating System Prerequisites Latest Adobe Flash Player AIR Framework Android 2.3+, + or Android x86 AIR 3.6.0.597 (uses Flash Player 11.6) Option 1: The AIR player can be embedded as a 'captive' runtime, which increases APK size but makes the application standalone. Option 2: The runtime is not included with the app, and must installed as a separate app from the app market. IOS 4.3 or later AIR 3.6.0.597 (uses Flash Player 11.6) Not applicable: each app includes its own 'captive' runtime.

None AIR 3.1 (uses Flash Player 11.1) Already pre-installed on each device. Blackberry 10.2 and lower (no longer supported from 10.3) AIR 3.5 (uses Flash Player 11.1) Already pre-installed on each device. Portable electronic devices is a lightweight version of Adobe Flash Player intended for mobile phones and other portable electronic devices like. On the emerging enthusiast market, as substantially popularized by the, support from Adobe is lacking. However, the open-source player Gnash has been ported and found to be useful.

Alternatives OpenFL. Main article: OpenFL is an open-source implementation of the Adobe Flash technology. It allows developers to build a single application against the OpenFL APIs, and simultaneously target multiple platforms including Flash/AIR, HTML5, Windows, Android, Tizen, Neko, BlackBerry and webOS. OpenFL mirrors the Flash API for graphical operations. OpenFL applications are written in, a modern multi-platform programming language. More than 500 video games have been developed with OpenFL, including the -winning game,.

Main article: HTML5 is often cited as an alternative to Adobe Flash technology usage on web pages. Adobe released a tool that converts Flash to HTML5, and in June 2011, Google released an experimental tool that does the same. In January 2015, defaulted to HTML5 players to better support more devices. Flash to HTML5 The following tools allow running Flash content in web browsers using HTML5:. was designed to produce HTML5 animations directly.

Adobe Flash Cs4 Professional

now allows Flash animations to be published into HTML5 content directly. A web-based tool developed by that converts files into, using for graphics and for animation., a Flash written in JavaScript. is library that while available separately was also adopted by Adobe as a replacement for Wallaby in. Unlike Wallaby, which was a standalone program, the 'Toolkit for CreateJS' only works as a plug-in inside; it generates output for the, animated with JavaScript. Around December 2013, the toolkit was integrated directly into Flash Professional CC. Criticisms Mobile support Websites built with Adobe Flash will not function on most modern mobile devices running or (, ).

The only alternative is using HTML5 and to build websites that support both desktop and mobile devices. However, Flash is still used to build mobile games using Adobe AIR. Such games will not work in mobile web browsers, but must be installed via the appropriate.

Vendor dependence. See also: The reliance on Adobe for decoding Flash makes its use on the a concern—the completeness of its public specifications are debated, and no complete implementation of Flash is publicly available in form with a license that permits reuse. Generally, public specifications are what makes a format re-implementable (see ), and reusable codebases can be to new platforms without the endorsement of the format creator. Adobe's restrictions on the use of the SWF/FLV specifications were lifted in February 2009 (see ). However, despite efforts of projects like Gnash, and, a complete free Flash player is yet to be seen, as of September 2011. For example, Gnash cannot use SWF v10 yet.

Notably, Gnash was listed on the, from at least 2007, to its overdue removal in January 2017. Notable advocates of free software, open standards, and the World Wide Web have warned against the use of Flash: The founder of, stated in 2008: Companies building websites should beware of proprietary technologies like Adobe's Flash and Microsoft's Silverlight. (.) You're producing content for your users and there's someone in the middle deciding whether users should see your content. Representing open standards, inventor of and co-author of HTML5, explained in a Google tech talk of 2007, entitled 'the element', the proposal of as the format for: I believe very strongly, that we need to agree on some kind of baseline video format if the video element is going to succeed.

Flash is today the baseline format on the web. The problem with Flash is that it's not an open standard.

Representing the, stated in a speech in 2004 that: 'The use of Flash in websites is a major problem for our community.' Accessibility Usability consultant published an Alertbox in 2000 entitled, Flash: 99% Bad, stating that 'Flash tends to degrade websites for three reasons: it encourages design abuse, it breaks with the Web's fundamental interaction principles, and it distracts attention from the site's core value.' Some problems have been at least partially fixed since Nielsen's complaints: Text size can be controlled using full page zoom and it has been possible for authors to include alternative text in Flash since Flash Player 6. Flash blocking in web browsers. Some websites rely heavily on Flash and become unusable without Flash Player, or with Flash blocked. Flash content is usually embedded using the object or embed.

A web browser that does not fully implement one of these elements displays the replacement text, if supplied by the web page. Often, a plugin is required for the browser to fully implement these elements, though some users cannot or will not install it. Since Flash can be used to produce content (such as advertisements) that some users find obnoxious or take a large amount of bandwidth to download, some web browsers, by default, do not play Flash content until the user clicks on it, e.g.,. Most current browsers have a feature to block plugins, playing one only when the user clicks it. Opera versions since 10.5 feature native Flash blocking. Opera Turbo requires the user to click to play Flash content, and the browser also allows the user to enable this option permanently.

Both Chrome and Firefox have an option to enable 'click to play plugins'. Equivalent 'Flash blocker' extensions are also available for many popular browsers: Firefox has and, Internet Explorer has Foxie, which contains a number of features, one of them named Flashblock. WebKit-based browsers under macOS, such as Apple's Safari, have ClickToFlash. In June 2015, Google announced that Chrome will 'pause' advertisements and 'non-central' Flash content by default. (from version 46) rewrites old Flash-only embed code into YouTube's modern embedded player that is capable of using either or Flash.

Such embed code is used by non-YouTube sites to embed YouTube's videos, and can still be encountered, for example, on old blogs and forums. Security. See also:, and For many years Adobe Flash Player's security record has led many security experts to recommend against installing the player, or to block Flash content. The has recommended blocking Flash, and security researcher recommended 'not to install Flash'; however, for people still using Flash, recommended that users get trusted updates 'only directly from the vendor that publishes them.' As of February 12, 2015, Adobe Flash Player has over 400 entries, of which over 300 lead to, and past vulnerabilities have enabled spying via web cameras. Security experts have long predicted the demise of Flash, saying that with the rise of HTML5 '.the need for browser plugins such as Flash is diminishing', as only 7 to 10 percent of websites still use it. Active moves by third parties to limit the risk began with in 2010 saying that Apple would not allow Flash on the, and – citing abysmal security as one reason.

Flash often used the ability to dynamically change parts of the runtime on languages on OSX to improve their own performance, but caused general instability. In July 2015, a series of newly discovered vulnerabilities resulted in 's chief security officer, issuing a call to Adobe to discontinue the software entirely and the web browser, and to blacklist all earlier versions of Flash Player.

As a result, 'Adobe has essentially stopped trying to do anything new and innovative with Flash.' Flash cookies. Main article: Like the, a (also known as a “”) can be used to save application data. Flash cookies are not shared across. An August 2009 study by the and a team of researchers at found that 50% of websites using Flash were also employing flash cookies, yet privacy policies rarely disclosed them, and user controls for were lacking. Most browsers' cache and history suppress or delete functions did not affect Flash Player's writing Local Shared Objects to its own cache in version 10.2 and earlier, at which point the user community was much less aware of the existence and function of Flash cookies than HTTP cookies. Thus, users with those versions, having deleted HTTP cookies and purged browser history files and caches, may believe that they have purged all tracking data from their computers when in fact Flash browsing history remains.

Adobe's own Flash, a submenu of Adobe's Flash, and other can manage settings for and delete Flash Local Shared Objects. See also. is an open-source implementation of the Flash platform. – the anti-aliased text-rendering engine used in version 8 onwards.

– a JavaScript library used to embed Flash content into web pages. Footnotes.

Creative Suite 6 / May 7, 2012; 6 years ago ( 2012-05-07), (limited), (limited), creation and editing Website Adobe Creative Suite ( CS) is a now-discontinued of, and developed. Each edition consisted of several Adobe applications, e.g., or, and that are the industry standard applications for many graphic design positions.

The last of the Creative Suite versions, Adobe Creative Suite 6 (CS6), was launched at a release event on April 23, 2012, and released on May 7, 2012. CS6 was the last of the Adobe design tools to be physically shipped as boxed software as the model for future releases and updates would be delivered via download only. On May 6, 2013 Adobe announced that CS6 would be the last version of the Creative Suite, and that future versions of their creative software would only be available via their subscription model. Adobe also announced that it would continue to support CS6 and would provide bug fixes and security updates through the next major upgrades of both Mac and Windows operating systems (as of 2013).

The Creative Suite packages were pulled from Adobe's online store in 2013, but were still available on their website until January 2017. Icons of the core CS6 applications The following are brief description of the core applications in the various Adobe Creative Suite editions.

Each edition may come with all or subset of these apps. creates, edits and manages documents in (PDF). is a digital motion graphics and published by Adobe Systems. It is often used in film and video post-production. It has more editing features than its discontinued sibling,. is an image organizer and app. It features limited integration with other Adobe apps but has no editing capabilities of its own.

is an and a. It allows a wide variety of people within an organization to update web pages. helps preview and test web pages, raster image and digital video content for mobile devices. is an HTML editor geared towards professional web development. integrates After Effects with Premiere Pro and with Encore, allowing files to be transferred between the two without rerendering. is a specialized app; it converts the output of Adobe Premiere and Adobe After Effects to a format suitable for DVD and players. Files are automatically transcoded to MPEG-2 or video and Dolby Digital audio.

DVD and Blu-ray menus can be created and edited in Adobe Photoshop using layering techniques. is a discontinued raster graphics editor for web designers. It could create interactive contents (e.g. Buttons that change shape when the mouse cursor is hovered on) and animations.

(now as part of Creative Cloud), a multimedia authoring program used to create, films and in the eponymous format. Its features included a called and bi-directional streaming of digital audio and video., an interaction design tool that allowed users to transform Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Fireworks artwork into interactive Adobe Flash projects without writing code. Flash Catalyst was discontinued in 2012 (CS 5.5) and not included in CS 6., formerly Adobe Flex Builder, is an (IDE) built on the platform meant for developing rich Internet applications and cross-platform desktop applications in the Adobe Flash format.

is a discontinued HTML editor geared towards professional web development. It was discontinued in favor of Adobe Dreamweaver.

is a illustration and design tool. is a discontinued raster graphics editor for web designers. It was discontinued in favor of Fireworks. is a application. Adobe Media Encoder is a app made with Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects users in mind. It produces video files suitable for uploading to (including ).

is a and monitoring software. is a tool for importing (ingesting), reviewing, and logging tapeless media. A large portion of its features are geared towards editing and retouching digital photographs. However, it is also capable of editing digital video frames, rendering text, and developing contents for web. is a real-time, timeline-based. Premiere is optimized for working on computers with more than one CPU, graphic cards. It supports the contemporary digital camera and capture card feeds, as well as their file formats, as input.

is a discontinued digital audio editor. It had fewer capabilities than Adobe Audition and eventually became a part of Audition. Adobe SpeedGrade is a app that integrates with Adobe Premiere. is a, production scheduling and reporting app. is a discontinued app; it removes the background of video usually recorded on a blue or green screen and combines it with another video background.

Adobe Ultra is only available in CS3 package. It is later incorporated into.

Later versions Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects have built-in chroma key compositing features. Adobe Version Cue is a system for maintaining multiple revisions of works among teams. Applications in the Creative Suite family were capable of accessing a service called Adobe Stock Photos before the service was discontinued in 2008. In 2015, after acquiring microstock company, Adobe once again launched a stock photography service called Adobe Stock along with its Creative Cloud service. Editions Adobe sold Creative Suite applications in several different combinations called 'editions', these included:. Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design Standard is an edition of the Adobe Creative Suite 6 family of products intended for professional print, web, interactive and mobile designers. Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design & Web Premium is an edition of the Adobe Creative Suite 6 family of products intended for professional web designers and developers.

Adobe Creative Suite 6 Production Premium is an edition of the Adobe Creative Suite 6 family of products intended for professional and video post-production experts who create projects for film, video, broadcast, web, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and mobile devices. Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection contains applications from all of the above editions, Adobe OnLocation, and, previously available in CS5.5, have been dropped from the CS6 line-up. And are not released as standalone products. Adobe Encore is available as part of., a application that integrates with, is also part of the Creative Suite family, but is not included in any CS6 edition.

In March 2013, it was reported that Adobe will no longer sell boxed copies of the Creative Suite software, instead offering digital downloads and monthly subscriptions. History Creative Suite 1 and 2. The Adobe Creative Suite 2 logo The first version of Adobe Creative Suite was released in September 2003 and Creative Suite 2 in April 2005.

The first two versions (CS and CS2) were available in two editions. The Standard Edition included:. (Since CS2). Adobe Version Cue.

Design guide and training resources. Adobe Stock Photos The Premium Edition also included:. (Version 8 in CS2.3). (Since CS2.3). Creative Suite likely helped InDesign become the dominant publishing software, replacing, because customers that purchased the suite for Photoshop and Illustrator received InDesign for free.

Due to Adobe's closing of the CS2 activation servers on December 15, 2012, Adobe offered existing CS2 users the opportunity to download a version of CS2 that no longer required Adobe server authorization in January 2013. This release was intended to allow existing users of CS2 to reinstall their licensed copies without needing authorization from the now-closed servers. Adobe published serial numbers on the January 8, 2013, but it was not until the January 24, 2013, that Adobe announced that download was intended only for people who had 'legitimately purchased CS2'. Many users ignored this announcement, or were not aware of it, and continued treating CS2 as either. Creative Suite Production Studio Adobe Creative Suite Production Studio (previously Adobe Video Collection) was a suite of programs for acquiring, editing, and distributing digital video and audio that was released during the same timeframe as Adobe Creative Suite 2. The suite was available in standard and premium editions.

The Adobe Production Studio Premium edition consisted of:. Professional. (Not sold separately) The Standard edition consisted of:. Since CS3, Adobe Production Studio became part of the Creative Suite family.

The equivalent version for Production Studio Premium is the Adobe Creative Suite Production Premium. Macromedia Studio Macromedia Studio was a suite of programs designed for web content creation designed and distributed by Macromedia.

After 's 2005 acquisition of Macromedia, Macromedia Studio 8 was replaced, modified, and integrated into two editions of the Adobe Creative Suite family of software from version 2.3 onwards. The closest relatives of Macromedia Studio 8 are now called Adobe Creative Suite Web Premium. Core applications from Macromedia Studio have been merged with Adobe Creative Suite since CS3, including Flash, Dreamweaver, and Fireworks. Some Macromedia applications were absorbed into existing Adobe products, e.g.

Has been replaced with Adobe Illustrator. And are not part of Adobe Creative Suite and will only be available as standalone products. The final version of Macromedia Studio released include:. Macromedia Studio MX Released May 29, 2002, internally it was version 6 and the first incarnation of the studio to use the 'MX' suffix, which for marketing purposes was a shorthand abbreviation that meant 'Maximize'. Studio MX included Dreamweaver, Flash, FreeHand, Fireworks and a developer edition of ColdFusion.

Macromedia Studio MX Plus Released February 10, 2003, sometimes referred to as MX 1.1. MX Plus was a special edition release of MX that included Freehand MX (replacing Freehand 10), Contribute and DevNet Resource Kit Special Edition in addition to the existing MX suite of products. Macromedia Studio MX 2004 Released September 10, 2003, despite its name, it is internally version 7. Studio MX 2004 included FreeHand along with updated versions of Dreamweaver, Flash and Fireworks.

An alternate version of Studio MX 2004 included Flash Professional and a new interface for Dreamweaver. Macromedia Studio 8 Released September 13, 2005, Studio 8 was the last version of Macromedia Studio. It comprised Dreamweaver 8, Flash 8, Flash 8 Video Converter, Fireworks 8, Contribute 3. Creative Suite 3. The Adobe Creative Suite 3 logo Adobe Creative Suite 3 (CS3) was announced on March 27, 2007; it introduced for all major programs for the, as well as including all of the core applications from Macromedia Studio and Production Studio.

Some Creative Suite programs also began using the used in the. Adobe began selling CS3 applications in six different combinations called 'editions.' Design Standard & Premium and Web Standard & Premium began shipping on April 16, 2007, and Production Premium and Master Collection editions began shipping on July 2, 2007. The latest released CS3 version was version 3.3, released on June 2, 2008. In this version Fireworks CS3 was included in Design Premium and all editions that had included Acrobat 8 Pro had it replaced with Acrobat 9 Pro.

Below is a matrix of the applications included in each edition of CS3 version 3.3: Adobe Creative Suite 3 Software Design Web Production Premium Master Collection Standard Premium Standard Premium (in v3.3) Shared applications (Windows only) (Windows only) Stock Photos Version Cue CS3 CS3 included several programs, including, and that were developed by, a former rival acquired by Adobe in 2005. It also included Adobe OnLocation and that were developed by Serious Magic, also a firm acquired by Adobe in 2006. Adobe dropped the following programs (that were previously included in CS2) from the CS3 software bundles:.

(replaced by ). (merged into and replaced by ). (replaced by ) Adobe had announced that it would continue to develop Audition as a standalone product, while GoLive had been discontinued.

Adobe GoLive 9 was released as a standalone product on June 10, 2007. Adobe Audition 3 was announced as a standalone product on September 6, 2007.

Adobe had discontinued ImageReady and had replaced it with Fireworks, with some of ImageReady's features integrated into Photoshop. Creative Suite 4. Adobe Creative Suite 4 logo Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4) was announced on September 23, 2008 and officially released on October 15, 2008. All applications in CS4 featured the same user interface, with a new tabbed interface for working with concurrently running Adobe CS4 programs where multiple documents can be opened inside multiple tabs contained in a single window.

Adobe CS4 was also developed to perform better under 64-bit. On, Adobe Photoshop CS4 ran natively as a application. Although they were not natively 64-bit applications, Adobe After Effects CS4 and Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 had been optimized for 64-bit computers. However, there were no 64-bit versions of CS4 available for. In early testing of 64-bit support in Adobe Photoshop CS4, overall performance gains ranged from 8% to 12%, due to the fact that 64-bit applications could address larger amounts of memory and thus resulted in less file swapping — one of the biggest factors that can affect data processing speed.

Two programs were dropped from the CS4 line-up:, a vector keying application which utilizes image analysis technology to produce high quality effects in less than ideal lighting environments and provides keying of a subject into a virtual 3D environment through virtual set technology, and Adobe Stock Photos. Below is a matrix of the applications that were bundled in each of the software suites for CS4: Adobe Creative Suite 4 Software Design Web Production Premium Master Collection Standard Premium Standard Premium Shared features, services, and applications Version Cue CS4 Creative Suite 5. The Adobe Creative Suite 5 Logo Adobe Creative Suite 5 (CS5) was released on April 30, 2010. From CS5 onwards, Windows versions of Adobe Premiere CS5 and Adobe After Effects CS5 were 64-bit only and required at least Windows Vista 64-bit or a later 64-bit Windows version. Windows XP Professional x64 Edition was no longer supported.

Adobe Version Cue, an application that enabled users to track and manipulate file metadata and automate the process of collaboratively reviewing documents among groups of people, and the Adobe Creative Suite Web Standard edition, previously available in CS4, were dropped from the CS5 line-up. Below is a matrix of the applications that were bundled in each of the software suites for CS5: Adobe Creative Suite 5 Software Design Web Premium Production Premium Master Collection Standard Premium Shared features, services, and applications Creative Suite 5.5 Following the release of CS5 in April 2010, Adobe changed its release strategy to an every other year release of major number installments. CS5.5 was presented on April 12, 2011, as an in-between program until CS6. The update helped developers optimize websites for a variety of tablets, smart phones, and other devices. At the same time, Adobe announced a subscription-based pay service as an alternative to full purchase.

On July 1, 2011, Adobe Systems announced its Switcher Program, which will allow people who had purchased any version of Apple's Final Cut Pro (or Avid Media Composer) to receive a 50 percent discount on Creative Suite CS5.5 Production Premium or Premiere Pro CS5.5. Not all products were upgraded to CS5.5 in this release; applications that were upgraded to CS5.5 included,. Also replaced in CS5.5, was first offered as an -powered screenwriting and preproduction application, and replaced Acrobat 9.3 Pro.

Below is a matrix of the applications that were bundled in each of the software suites for CS5.5: Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Software Design Web Premium Production Premium Master Collection Standard Premium Shared features, services, and applications Media Encoder CS5.5 Extension Manager CS5.5 Creative Suite 6 During an Adobe conference call on June 21, 2011, CEO said that the April 2011 launch of CS5.5 was 'the first release in our transition to an annual release cycle', adding, 'We intend to ship the next milestone release of Creative Suite in 2012.' On March 21, 2012, Adobe released a freely available version of Adobe Photoshop CS6. The final version of Adobe CS6 was launched on a release event April 23, 2012, and first shipped May 7.

Adobe also launched a subscription-based offering named where users are able to gain access to individual applications or the full Adobe Creative Suite 6 suite on a per-month basis, plus additional cloud storage spaces and services. Adobe Creative Suite 6 Software Design Standard Design & Web Premium Production Premium Master Collection SpeedGrade CS6 Shared features, services, and applications Discontinuation.

Adobe Cs4 Download

Main article: On May 5, 2013, during the opening keynote of its conference, Adobe announced that it was retiring the 'Creative Suite' branding in favor of 'Creative Cloud', and making all future feature updates to its software (now appended with 'CC' instead of 'CS', e.g. Photoshop CC) available via the Creative Cloud subscription service rather than through the purchasing of perpetual licenses.

Customers must pay a subscription fee and if they stop paying, they will lose access to the, which are not with the Creative Suite (Adobe admitted that this is a valid concern ). Individual subscribers must have an Internet connection to download the software and to use the 2 GB of provided storage space (or the additionally purchased 20 GB ), and must validate the license monthly. Adobe's decision to make the subscription service the only sales route for its creative software was met with strong criticism (see ). Several online articles began offering replacements of Photoshop, Illustrator, and other programs, with such as and or competing products such as, and directly offering alternatives. In addition to many of the products formerly part of the Creative Suite (one product, Fireworks, was announced as having reached the end of its development cycle), Creative Cloud also offers subscription-exclusive products such as and- the family, Web-based file and website hosting, fonts, and access to the social media platform. The new CC versions of their applications, and the full launch of the updated Creative Cloud service, was announced for June 17, 2013.

New versions with major feature updates have been released regularly, with a refresh of the file formats occurring in October 2014. Adobe also announced that it would continue to offer bug fixes for the CS6 products so that they will continue to run on the next versions of. References. ^ Crosby, Connor (2012-04-23). Archived from on 2012-07-08.

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External links.