Save Shockwave Flash Animation on Web Sites
June 29th, 2005Did you find a wonderful shockwave flash animation on the web and wanted to save it. But how to save Flash? Do not buy expensive flash capturing software.. Here is the tip.
Why is saving flash content difficult?
When you right click on a flash animation, you usually get two options – Settings & About Macromedia Flash player.
So there is no way to just right click and save a flash animation. Though such a right click and save option is in the works.
Then you may try View>Source and try to locate the flash file and get the source code if you are lucky. But that will also not help, because even if you run it in the web browser again, how will you save it.
There are professional tools and plugins which will help you view and save flash in one go, but for a price. There are several free flash viewers which will only enable you to see flash files located on your computer, but not allow saving flash.
How to Save Flash
Here is the quick fix for Internet explorer in Windows XP I have been using for some time.
Finding the flash file
Open the Internet explorer
Go to Tools > Internet Options
Look for “Temporary internet Files” – click on Settings
Then in the Pop Window, look for “Temporary Internet Files Folder”
Click “View Files”
This will open the “Temporary Internet Files Folder”
You can sort files by Type by clicking on it. Or by date to see the latest files of you have a large cache. Under the type, you will see several files labelled as “Shockwave Flash Object”. You can right click on file you want, then “Copy”
Unable to locate the file?
If you have a large number of files and are unable to locate the flash file you want, sort by date such that the latest date is on top. If there are still huge number of files, empty the temporary internet folder (Internet Explorer> Tools> Internet Options> Temporary Internet Files Folder> Delete Files>Delete all Offline content).
Now that your folder is clean, revisit the site and the flash file will be recached into this folder. If your file is lost amongst multiple flash files, then you can click these flash files, but that is best avoided. If you do click, an alert box will pop up. Click on Yes and the flash file will open in your default web browser.
Unable to locate the temporary internet folder?
In Win98-ME – “c:\windows”Win2000-XP
In Win XP-2000 – “c:\documents and settings\user_name\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files”
You can also search for *.swf files from same or higher levels depending on your computer.
See the source…
You can also find the source url of the flash movie easily. Right click the flash file in the temporary internet folder, select properties and it will reveal the full url. Similarly, once you click the file and ok the alert box above, the flash file url will appear in the location box.
Saving the flash file.
Now that you have the .swf shockwave file copied, you need a place to save it. Lets save it on the desktop, the easiest location to find on the computer. Right click on the desktop, and select “Paste”. The .swf flash file will be saved on the computer.
How to see if this file works?
Right click on the file and click > Open with > Internet explorer
and your flash file runs.
NOTE: Please note this is a quick way of saving flash files. Many of these flash files may be copyrighted and its usage may not be allowed by the site owners from which you got the file. So do not go about publishing or embedding these files on your websites.
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great, many thanks
Hi ive been playing alot of flash games and ive used some of the methods used on this form but i have a problem how do i save and play the new DCR 3D flash files? I managed to save the .dcr file but how do i play it back on my pc, offline? the game is a zipzaps racing game that is pretty addicting and i want to save it and play it offline, is there a stand alone flash player for playing DCR flash files offline
but how do you get it to play offline what do you need to download. it says its Shockwave Flash Object.
Hi this trick is really cool….thanx…great work……
Yea I cant play Shockwave Flash Object files on my computre at all on the net it is fine but off the net I cant play them at all what do i need on my computre to do this can I download the player onto my jcomputre I have IE as we all do but use FF as its better faster and just more user friendly any can you help. Send me a Mail and I will be Happy as I bont have net and usually only can check my Email thanks all.
I know the best way to save swf (shock wava flash) animation file. Open the website on which your desired animation is present. In internet temporary folders all the files will store there temporary just go to C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files on your computer and you will the swf animations file there then copy it on your hard disk location and paste there
thanks & regards
Thanks for that great tip! I too have been puzzled over how to accomplish that. The first 2 times I tried, it worked great but it seems like it doesn’t work every time everywhere.
Not all of the files are swf, some are flv and other extensions. Does it work for any and all flash documents? Some of the ones I’ve tried to get will let you copy the url but it won’t paste or, you can copy and paste but it still won’t play. Am I missing something here.
Thanks everyone for all of the useful tips here.
The method given here is good….but unfortunately this method cannot save all the files.Use some third party tools to capture flash files.The best one(and free) is to use firefox with “Download Embedded” addon.That would save the users from lots of troubles!
there is a trick to save such files, if you can not find them under Media Files menu of FireFox, Just try from menu View Source and try to find out the URL of the flash object, then Copy Paste that URL in Address now and now try from menu Tools, Page Info, Media. and then on Falsh object select “Save as..” and here you go.. bingo..
All these methods work if the .swf file is self-contained, ie. has all of the data it uses embedded within the file.
If the .swf was written to access the net to stream other parameters and resources such as a database, video files, etc. it will not work.
Also some .swf files are written to check that it is run from the original domain and will not work otherwise…
:-(
Great tutorial, I have never really thought about saving the flash like that. I have always done it by viewing source and then the javascript.
does any1 knw how to save flash frm BlueMountain??
id b greatful if any1 cud help me =(
this subject is very important for us . thank for subject. please write back soon
UNH solutions has the flash saving plugin and the flash player… http://www.unhsolutions.net/
I have used both for a few years..pretty good overall.
Wow thanks! I will try this. I love videobooks such as video biographies of inspiring & successful people which I watch whenever I have time to motivate me. But when I tried to save video bio from Biography.com I used Realplayer but I cannot watch it offline. Realplayer said it cannot detect the format- shockwave flash
Hi,I run some flash player 9 but when i check my temporary folder i couldnt find any flash fill maybe it hide how can i find it if not available in temporary folder.
with best regard
Before I only visit You Tube for a few minutes. I’m really glad about Realplayer 11 Webvideo downloader, now I got to watch & enjoy You Tube & Google learning videos more than ever, without the annoying buffering stops. You Tube, you should give Realplayer a portion of you profits. I can even view them offline CONTINUOUSLY! Thanks Realplayer geniuses I hope you include shockwave files next time. Try it it’s free and set preferences to High Definition videos. So clear
thanx, very very good post
thanks for nice information…so cute way and easy …keep it up….
Download Netscape Navigator or Opera. Open the page with the video or flash vid/game. Load it fully. When loaded make a new tab and type in the address bar ‘about:cache’. Hit enter. Locate file and open in a new tab. In netscape when you open the file in a new tab click on the link again to open it. When file has open in the new tab go to ‘file, save as’ then save the file some where like on the desktop and click save. Open the folder where the file was saved and then open the file. If you don’t have a flash player open it in IE. With this method you can download any media such as vids and flash files.
Note: this method does not work in IE
This may work in FireFox but haven’t tried it yet.
still there is lot more problem to save the shockwave file to the hard disk bcoz they have .dcr extention how can i play these files
I have been trying to save copies of Adobe Shockwave interactive animations (or gizmos) from:
http://www.explorelearning.com/
I’ve not had any success saving these animations. They may be some safegaurds against people saving these.
Can anyone advise?
Thanks ya.. very detailed and helpful… u made my work so easyyy.. thnks thanks!!!!
Please helping me … I try saving a slideshow I created by http://www.slide.com & followed instructions above … “Finding the flash file
Open the Internet explorer
Go to Tools > Internet Options
Look for “Temporary internet Files” – click on Settings
Then in the Pop Window, look for “Temporary Internet Files Folder” …
This functions usally but this time not — I cannot locate the .swf file because there is’nt one. Slide.com makes it impossible for anone to copy their foto slideshow — please I need expert advice … somebdy helping me … advanced thanks !
OK guys! Try this http://www.research.ibm.com/research/demos/gmr/index.html
click on – animated simulation
This cann’t be saved by any of your method!
Somebody help!