I was looking through some old folders on my PC and found some old files with the suffix SWF. I couldn’t open them, but I remembered that these were shockwave flash files. I used to download them from websites and play them using Irfanview. However on modern PCs that doesn’t work anymore. I have used flashpoint to play old games, so I decided to learn how to use it to do some archiving directly.
Flashpoint is an amazing example of what internet weirdos1 can achieve when they get organised right. Flash basically no longer exists in any usable form for accessing the web. Some efforts to produce browser extensions or Javascript libraries exist, but compared to what modern browsers can do natively, there’s not much point. But with flashpoint, archivists grabbed copies of old flash (and many other runtimes) files, hooked them up to a local server, and made the whole thing available for download. And it just works.
Another amazing thing about the flashpoint project is the level of documentation. They don’t have some impoverished read the docs page populated automatically from the source code, it’s a real self hosted wiki that goes into great detail how to run old flash files. And it’s kept separate from the discord group, because they’ve understood the value in separation of concern between store of knowledge and chatroom. They also have a build and moderation platform which helps to make it easier to share newly archived files.
Archiving is pretty easy. The form within the flashpoint application has all the metadata fields you need to fill out, a robust tagging system, and an easy to set up localhost server that can mock the name of the server originally distributing the flash files2, or just run from http://localflash/gamename for the games that I’ve completely forgotten the origin of.
The software does have some odd quirks that I’m not super fan of. Despite the really good separation of all the different DevOps parts, the submission system still relies on discord. So if discord decides to close up their APIs one day, that will cause a lot of pain. And there are also some strange warnings in how the local server works – always use http: else the entire system falls apart. Why? If it’s never intended to use https, just remove that capability altogether. But aside from minor nags like this, it’s a really well made ecosystem.
I’ve gotten around to archiving two of my found files so far. Some of the others were already in the system. The first was a little tool from an online stopwatch site. Back before I had a phone or a PC with this built-in, that was the easiest stopwatch tool for me to use. Another was a very strange toy where you drag a President Sarkozy figure around some bubbles. I’m not entirely sure what the point of that was. I’m sure there’s some deep political meaning.
I also found some already archived classics, like Fly Guy, a Snake clone, and an animation about the cheese family, which has since been uploaded to youtube for you to enjoy.
I found many of these files by going on to google and searching for filetype:swf without any other search terms, and this turned the search engine into, effectively, an index page for every single embedded flash file on the known internet. Unfortunately this trick no longer works, for any filetype. Pity. A global web index seems like a neat idea.
- I refuse to allow the term weird to become a slur, despite what some people are trying. I’m weird and I’d rather be weird than normal. ↩︎
- Back in the day, flash files often had rudimentary DRM that blocked the files from running if they detected they were on a different domain from the one intended. Annoyingly, this also meant I couldn’t download many files to a USB drive at home and then play the games at school behind the site blocker. ↩︎
Weirdly enough, I also have some .swf files stored on my laptop, inherited and transferred from one computer/HDD to another over the years. Also with players from those old times (early 2000s) for those files that don’t work with IrfanView (which I still use today as my main photo viewer & editor). I even found my MD final thesis presentation converted into swf with FlashSpring, a website that used to convert ppt to swf (I was afraid that PowerPoint won’t work, so I had it converted to open as flash in Internet Explorer, another fossil from those times, just to make sure it works in any possible situation in front of the commission). Then, in the old times, I used to save YouTube music videos (read: recuperate them from the cache) in the .flv format (somehow related, I think, because I have both file types in the same folder) and use ancient players to play them locally on my computer (it was the time of dial-up, internet was rare and rather expensive). When there were limitations, I think, people needed to be creative and find solutions. And I find some of those swf and flv rather intelligent and creative for today’s standards. Yesterday, when I saw your article, I nostalgically spent an hour or so watching them. Thanks for writing this article!
I remember FLVs from YouTube too! I used to download those as a way of getting around my school’s internet blocker.
I recall seeing a programme in my Linux repository to do the same. I also have a folder with some of these files but can’t remember what any of them contain?!? Not sure if it is the same programme.
Thanks for reminding me about them.