Adobe Flash was previously known as Macromedia Flash. Flash objects are created using Adobe Flash, a software program created by Macromedia and acquired by Adobe, Inc. The latest version of this software is Adobe Flash CS4.
Note
Nowadays, many applications can generate Flash objects. For example, there are converters that can generate a Flash animation from Microsoft PowerPoint. OpenOffice.org Impress can natively save a presentation as a Flash presentation. Therefore Flash objects are not only generated by Adobe Flash. However, for the sake of this book, we will assume that the animation and Flash objects we are talking about have been created using Adobe Flash.
By using Adobe Flash, we can create multiple types of Flash objects including animations and videos. The application generates the following types of Flash files: