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How to add a video in Animate

Last updated on May 24, 2023

Animate provides several methods by which you can incorporate video into your Animate document and play it back for users.

Before you begin

Before you start working with video in Animate, it is important to understand the following information:

Animate can only play specific video formats.

These include FLV, F4V, and MPEG video. For instructions on converting video in other formats, see Create video for use in Animate.
Use the separate Adobe Media Encoder application (included with Animate) to convert other video formats to F4V. For instructions, see Create video for use in Animate.
There are different ways of adding video to Animate, each with advantages in different situations. See below for a list of these methods.
Animate includes a Video Import Wizard that opens when you choose File > Import > Import Video.
Using the FLVPlayback component is the simplest way to quickly get video playing in a Animate file.

For instructions, see Progressively download video using a web server.

Methods for using video in Animate

You can use video in Animate in different ways:

Progressive download from a web server

This method keeps the video file external to the Animate file and the resulting SWF file. This keeps the SWF file size small. This is the most common method of using video in Animate.
Stream video using Adobe Media Server.

This method also keeps the video file external to your Animate file. Adobe Media Streaming Server gives you secure protection of your video content in addition to a smooth streaming playback experience.
Embed video data directly inside a Animate file

This method results in very large Animate files, and is only recommended for short video clips. For instructions, see Embed video within an Animate file.

Progressively download video using a web server

Progressive downloading lets you use either the FLVPlayback component or ActionScript that you write to load and play back external FLV or F4V files in a SWF file at runtime.

Because the video file is kept external to the other Animate content, it’s relatively easy to update video content without republishing the SWF file.

Progressive downloading provides the following advantages over embedding video in the Timeline:

During authoring, you can publish only your SWF file to preview or test part or all of your Animate content. This results in faster preview times and quicker turnaround on iterative experimentation.
During playback, video begins playing as soon as the first segment of video is downloaded and cached to the local computer’s disk drive.
At runtime, video files are loaded by Flash Player from the computer’s disk drive into the SWF file, with no limitation on video file size or duration. No audio synchronization issues or memory restrictions exist.
The frame rate of the video file can be different from the frame rate of the SWF file, allowing for greater flexibility in authoring Animate content.

Import video for progressive download

You can import a video file that is stored locally on your computer, and then upload the video file to a server after importing it to your FLA file. In Animate, when you import video for progressive download, you are really adding only a reference to the video file. Animate uses the reference to find the video file on your local computer or on a web server.

You can also import a video file that is already uploaded to a standard web server, an Adobe Media Server (AMS), or Flash Video Streaming Service (FVSS).

Select File > Import > Import Video to import the video clip into the current Animate document.

Select video window
Select the video clip to import. You can select either a video clip located on your local computer, or enter the URL of a video already uploaded to a web server or Adobe Media Server.
- To import video located on your local computer, select Load external video with playback component.
- To import video already deployed to a web server, Adobe Media Server, or Flash Video Streaming Service, select Already deployed to a web server, Flash Video Streaming Service, or Stream From Adobe Media Server, and enter the URL of the video clip.
The URL for a video clip located on a web server will use the http communication protocol. The URL for a video clip located on a Adobe Media Server or Flash Streaming Service will use the RTMP communication protocol.
Select a skin for your video clip.

Select the skin for video clip
You can choose to:
- Not use a skin with the FLVPlayback component by selecting None.
- Select one of the predefined FLVPlayback component skins. Animate copies the skin into the same folder as the FLA file.
FLVPlayback component skins are slightly different depending on whether you are creating an AS2- or AS3-based Animate document.
- Select a custom skin of your own design by entering the URL of the skin on the web server.
If you choose to use a custom skin invoked from a remote location, then live preview will not be available for the video on Stage.
The Video Import Wizard creates an FLVPlayback video component on the Stage that you can use to test video playback locally. When you finish creating your Animate document and want to deploy the SWF file and video clip, upload the following assets to the web server or Adobe Media Server hosting your video:
- If you are using a local copy of the video clip, upload the video clip (which is located in the same folder as the source video clip you selected with a .flv extension).
Animate uses a relative path to point to the FLV or F4V file (relative to the SWF file), letting you use the same directory structure locally that you use on the server. If the video was previously deployed to your FMS or the FVSS hosting your video, you can skip this step.
- The video skin (if you chose to use a skin)
  
  To use a predefined skin, Animate copies the skin into the same folder as the FLA file.
- The FLVPlayback component
  
  To edit the FLVPlayback component’s URL field to that of the web server or Adobe Media Server that you are uploading the video to, use the Component inspector (Windows > Component inspector) to edit the contentPath parameter.

Stream video using Adobe Media Server

Adobe Media Server streams media in real-time to Flash Player and AIR. Adobe Media Server uses bandwidth detection to deliver video or audio content based on the user’s available bandwidth.

Streaming video with Adobe Media Server provides the following advantages over embedded and progressively downloaded video:

Video playback starts sooner than it does using other methods of incorporating video.
Streaming uses less of the client's memory and disk space, because the clients don’t need to download the entire file.
Network resources are used more efficiently, because only the parts of the video that are viewed are sent to the client.
Delivery of media is more secure, because media is not saved to the client’s cache when streamed.
Streaming video provides better tracking, reporting, and logging ability.
Streaming lets you deliver live video and audio presentations, or capture video from a web cam or digital video camera.
Adobe Media Server enables multiway and multiuser streaming for video chat, video messaging, and video conferencing applications.
By using server-side scripting to control video and audio streams, you can create server-side play lists, synchronized streams, and more intelligent delivery options based on the client’s connection speed.

To learn more about Adobe Media Server, see www.adobe.com/go/flash_media_server.

To learn more about Flash Video Streaming Service, see www.adobe.com/go/learn_fvss_en.

Embed a video file within a Animate file

When you embed a video file, all of the video file data is added to the Animate file. This results in a much larger Animate file and subsequent SWF file. The video is placed in the Timeline where you can see the individual video frames represented in the Timeline frames. Because each video frame is represented by a frame in the Timeline, the frame rate of the video clip and the SWF file must be set to the same rate. If you use different frame rates for the SWF file and the embedded video clip, video playback is inconsistent.

Note: To use variable frame rates, stream the video using either progressive downloading or Adobe Media Server. When you import video files using either of these methods, the FLV or F4V files are self-contained and run at a frame rate separate from that of all other timeline frame rates included in the SWF file.

Embedded video works best for smaller video clips, with a playback time of less than 10 seconds. If you are using video clips with longer playback times, consider using progressively downloaded video, or streaming video using Adobe Media Server.

The limitations of embedded video include:

You might encounter problems if the resulting SWF files become excessively large. Flash Player reserves a lot of memory when downloading and attempting to play large SWF files with embedded video, which can cause Flash Player to fail.
Longer video files (over 10 seconds long) often have synchronization issues between the video and audio portions of a video clip. Over time, the audio track begins playing out of sequence with the video, causing a less than desirable viewing experience.
To play a video embedded in a SWF file, the entire video file must be downloaded before the video starts to play. If you embed an excessively large video file, it might take a long time for the SWF file to download in its entirety and for playback to start.
After a video clip is imported, it cannot be edited. Instead, you must re-edit and re-import the video file.
When publishing your SWF file via the web, the entire video must be downloaded to the viewer’s computer before video playback can begin.
At runtime, the entire video must fit into the local memory of the playback computer.
The length of an imported video file cannot exceed 16000 frames.
The video frame rate and Animate Timeline frame rate must be the same. Set the frame rate of your Animate file to match the frame rate of the embedded video.

You can preview frames of an embedded video by dragging the playhead along the Timeline (scrubbing). Note that the video sound track does not play back during scrubbing. To preview the video with sound, use the Test Movie command.

Embedding a video within a Animate file

Select File > Import > Import Video to import the video clip into the current Animate document.
Select one of the following options:

Load external video with playback component: Imports the video and creates an instance of the FLVPlayback component to control video playback.

Embed FLV in SWF and play in timeline: Embeds the FLV into the Animate document and places it in the timeline.

Embed H.264 videos in timeline: Embeds H.264 videos into the Animate document. When you import a video using this option, it is placed on the stage to be used as a guide for your animation at design time. Frames from the video are rendered on the stage as you scrub through or play the timeline. The audio for the relevant frames is also played back.

When you try to publish your FLA file with H264 video content on a layer that is neither a guide layer nor a hidden layer, a warning is shown if the platform you are publishing to does not support embedded H.264 videos.
Click Browse and select the video file from your computer and click Next.

Optional: If you have Adobe Media Encoder installed on your computer and you want to convert the video to another format using AME, click Convert video.
Choose the symbol type with which to embed the video.

Choose the symbol type

Embedded Video

If you’re using the video clip for linear playback in the Timeline, importing the video into the Timeline is the most appropriate method.

Movie Clip

A best practice is to place video inside a movie clip instance, because you have the most control over the content. The video’s Timeline plays independently from the main Timeline. You do not have to extend your main Timeline by many frames to accommodate the video, which can make working with your FLA file difficult.

Graphic

When you embed a video clip as a graphic symbol, you cannot interact with the video using ActionScript (typically you use graphic symbols for static images and to create reusable pieces of animation that are tied to the main Timeline).
Import the video clip directly onto the Stage (and the Timeline) or as a library item.

By default, Animate places the video you import on the Stage. To import into the library only, deselect Place Instance on Stage.

If you’re creating a simple video presentation with linear narration and little to no interaction, accept the default setting and import the video to the Stage. To create a more dynamic presentation, work with multiple video clips, or add dynamic transitions or other elements using ActionScript, import the video into the library. After a video clip is in the library, customize it by converting it into a MovieClip object that you can more easily control with ActionScript.

By default, Animate expands the Timeline to accommodate the playback length of the video clip you are embedding.

If the video file contains audio that you don't want to import, deselect Include audio.
Click Next. Review the confirmation messages and click Finish.

The Video Import wizard embeds the video into the SWF file. The video appears either on the Stage or in the library depending on the embedding options you chose.

Finish video import dialog
In the Property inspector (Window > Properties), give the video clip an instance name, and make any modifications to the video clip’s properties.

Video clip instance name

Import video files into the library

To import FLV, F4V, or H.264 videos, use the Import > Import Video or Import to Library commands.

To create your own video player, which dynamically loads FLV or F4V files from an external source, place your video inside a movie clip symbol. When you load FLV or F4V files dynamically, adjust the dimensions of the movie clip to match the actual dimension of the video file and scale the video by scaling the movie clip.

A best practice is to place video inside a movie clip instance, which gives you the most control over the content. The video’s Timeline plays independently from the main Timeline. You do not have to extend your main Timeline by many frames to accommodate the video, which can make working with your FLA file difficult.

To import an FLV, SWF, or H.264 video file into the library, do one of the following:
- Select File > Import > Import To Library.
- Select any existing video clip in the Library Panel, and select Properties from the Library Panel menu. You can also rght-click on the video file and choose Properties in the pop-up menu. Click Import. Locate the file to import, and click Open.
Import to library option

Change the properties of a video clip

You can change properties for an instance of an embedded video clip on the Stage, assign the instance an instance name, and change its width, height, and position on the Stage using the Property inspector. You can also swap an instance of a video clip—assign a different symbol to an instance of a video clip. Assigning a different symbol to an instance displays a different instance on the Stage but leaves all the other instance properties (such as dimensions and registration point) intact.

In the Video Properties dialog box, you can do the following:

View information about an imported video clip, including its name, path, creation date, pixel dimensions, length, and file size
Change the video clip name
Update the video clip if you modify it in an external editor
Import an FLV or F4V file to replace the selected clip
Export a video clip as an FLV or F4V file

Change video instance properties in the Property inspector

Select an instance of an embedded or linked video clip on the Stage.
Select Window > Properties, and do any of the following:
- Enter an instance name in the Name text field on the left side of the Property inspector.
- Enter values for W and H to change the dimensions of the video instance.
- Enter values for X and Y to change the position of the upper-left corner of the instance on the Stage.
- Click Swap. Select a video clip to replace the clip currently assigned to the instance.
You can swap an embedded video clip only with another embedded video clip, and you can swap a linked video clip only with another linked video clip.

View video clip properties in the Video Properties dialog box

Select a video clip in the Library Panel.
Select Properties from the Library Panel menu, or click the Properties button located at the bottom of the Library Panel. The Video Properties dialog box is displayed.

Assign a new name to, update, or replace a video

Select the video clip in the Library Panel and select Properties from the Library Panel menu.
Do one of the following:
- To assign a new name, enter the name in the Name text field.
- To update a video, navigate to the updated video file and click Open.
- To replace a video, click Import, navigate to the FLV, F4V, or H.264 file to replace the current clip, and click Open.

Control video playback using the Timeline

To control playback of an embedded video file, control the Timeline that contains the video. For example, to pause a video playing on the main Timeline, you would call a stop() action that targets that Timeline. Similarly, you can control a video object in a movie clip symbol by controlling the playback of that symbol’s Timeline.

You can apply the following actions to imported video objects in movie clips: goTo, play, stop, toggleHighQuality, stopAllSounds, getURL,FScommand, loadMovie, unloadMovie, ifFrameLoaded, and onMouseEvent. To apply actions to a Video object, first convert the Video object to a movie clip.

To show a live video stream from a camera, use ActionScript. First, place a Video object on the Stage, select New Video from the Library Panel menu. To attach the video stream to the Video object, use Video.attachVideo.

See also Video and attachVideo (Video.attachVideo method) in the ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference, and fl.video in the ActionScript 3.0 Language Reference.

Update an embedded video after editing its source file

Select the video clip in the Library Panel.
Select Properties and click Update.

The embedded video clip is updated with the edited file. The compression settings you selected when you first imported the video are reapplied to the updated clip.

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