swf to gif (or other usable format)

[rgdot]

Hi all

I have a swf file that I need to convert to be usable on a current web page. I can only find flash emulators that open the swf file in a browser and little else (they can't export to animated gif for example(?))
A downloadable software like lightspark does not even install properly or crash (latest version, tried both 32bit and 64bit)

I would think an Adobe product like After Effects would be able to open it and export it to a usable format but even if it does I have no access to Adobe products.

Any ideas?

[rjbull]

Sanity check - I have not tried this.

Movavi Video Converter seems to say it can convert SWF to a few other formats, and they also have an online video converter.

[rgdot]

The online version (tried to mp4, avi and others) doesn't seem to handle the swf file well, it says converting but the converted file is 0 seconds (but over 100k). The original swf file is 39k, nothing too unusual, basically animated text and logo.
Will attempt the download version, thanks.

[rgdot]

Looks like the same issue with the download version and a couple of other online convertors. The output is a static file, some formats only 1k size.

[4wd]

Have you tried ffmpeg?

Code: (generic)

ffmpeg -i input.swf output.gif

Will probably result in a file larger than the original, you could also try conversion to WEBM.

Code: (generic)

ffmpeg -i input.swf -c:v libvpx-vp9 -crf 30 -b:v 0 -an output.webm

Might need to play around with the CRF value to adjust your output quality. See here.

[BGM]

I have a copy of a very old utility called "Swifty Batch Projector Creator" which converts swf files to exe files.
https://www.buraks.com/swifty/sbpc.html

https://www.buraks.com/swifty/

It's freeware, and the page is still up.

[BGM]

Another thing you could do, is if you had any kind of swf player, you could record your screen as it played.
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/screentogif.html

[rgdot]

Will try ffmpeg and swifty, thanks. Can I get the exe please? It is not available on the site I believe

In previous times (not related to this swf) no matter what I did screentogif looked like it lost quality or resolution, played with frames and every other setting in it and still never understood why.

[BGM]

I can provide a link, but I just read on his site:

Update: Download removed. (I should have removed it years ago, because as noted above, Swifty Batch Projector Creator has an embedded link to Flasher.net. The site was a major Flash resource at the time. Unfortunately, now, it's kind of a porn site -Burak).

Swifty Batch Projector Creator can,
    Batch create projectors from a list of SWF files using the Player you select. Creating the SWF list easy with Drag & Drop operation.

SBPC, uses standalone Flash players to create projectors. You can copy many projectors in a folder named 'Players'. This is designed as such because SBPC needs to know which files are standalone Flash players. You can have version 3, 4, 5, MX players, EXE compressed versions of them and also maybe some edited players. This way, you can rename the player EXEs anyway you like.

[rgdot]

Not sure if distribution is allowed but thanks

[BGM]

Yeah, well, that program is about 20 years old, already, anyway.  I'm doubting it will even work on Windows 10.

[rjbull]

Another thing you could do, is if you had any kind of swf player, you could record your screen as it played.
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/screentogif.html

ScreenToGif's own home page is https://www.screentogif.com/ but it's the same version as MajorGeeks have.  There's also LICEcap.  Don't know about quality; it certainly has less features.

Or you could use any other screen recorder, e.g. mouser's Easy Screencast Recorder?  It doesn't appear to offer animated GIF as a target format, but other formats are available.

[rgdot]

In HTML5 times probably have to embed a video but tools like mouser's output huge videos, have to read on compression or just create a good quality gif.
Same thing with ffmpeg, simple commands don't work, the same 0 seconds output as the video convertors above.

[4wd]

Same thing with ffmpeg, simple commands don't work, the same 0 seconds output as the video convertors above.

In that case try converting the SWF to images first:

Code: (generic)

ffmpeg -i input.swf output-%05d.png

That should output every frame as a consecutively numbered PNG, (if there's more than 100,000 frames you'll need to increase the 5 in output-%05d.png).

Then it should be a simple matter of using ffmpeg or any other video program to convert the images to video.

You're not able to PM me the original file, (or upload to gofile.io or somewhere and send a link)?
I use ffmpeg and/or other video programs almost every other day but I don't have any SWF files to try, (can't remember the last time I saw one).

[rgdot]

Thank you 4wd, BGM, rjbull and everybody

[4wd]

For anyone else wanting to play an old SWF for capture, you can use Adobe's Flash Player Content Debugger and then use any screen/window capture program.

[Deozaan]

I've also used SWF File Player with some success in the past.

[rgdot]

Thanks guys. Hopefully will be fully done with Flash very soon