Moving from Flash to HTML5
By end of 2020, we will be completely removing support for the Flash Overlay Plugin, which was a great way to add high-quality animated graphics and dynamic content to video streams. We strongly suggest that all customers, who have been using Flash, migrate their solutions to the HTML5 Plugin during this year.
What happened?
Adobe has committed to support the technology through 2020 and it will be officially deprecated by Microsoft by December 31st:
Flash will be completely removed from all browsers by December 31, 2020, via Windows Update.
After the technology is disabled by Microsoft, it will not be technically possible to deploy the Flash Overlay Plugin on up-to-date systems. Due to the fact that the Plugin uses Internet Explorer components to run Flash, it will simply stop working after the update.
Therefore, Medialooks will be no longer renewing Flash Overlay licenses and will completely remove the Plugin from the Character Generator component by end of 2020.
If you’ve been using Flash animation within your product in any way, in 2021 you and your customers will no longer be able to do so.
What needs to be done?
Because Flash had been causing memory management and performance issues, we began investing into an alternative in 2016. Naturally we selected HTML5 as the alternative: it provides more flexibility and far better performance. It also allows to build more complex overlays and is much more stable.
Here’s a case study that highlights a comparison of Flash and HTML by a company with heavy graphics usage.
Here’s our idea of what can be done:
- Work out a transition plan. There are solutions for converting FLA files to HTML5 and SWF files to HTML5. Your product specs and your customer’s content creation procedures might need to be updated as well.
- Get a license for the HTML5 Plugin. Reach out to our sales team or simply buy a license vie the web page. Keep in mind that 2021 releases of our video SDK will not support Flash at all.
- Reach out to your own customer base. The deprecation of Flash will also affect your current install base. This is an opportunity to reach out to them and offer an upgrade.
If you need technical help, our Support is always there for you.