[WikiEN-l] Tech help: Video format conversion

[Gregory Maxwell]

On 7/20/06, Cormac Lawler <cormaggio at gmail.com> wrote:
> Why off-list? I'd be interested in finding out about an swf open
> format converter - I was looking around for something like that the
> other day, but couldn't find anything. Possibly Gnash:
> <http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/>, but I'm not sure if it converts
> or simply plays Flash files.

I'd replied to him off list, but since there is interest:

In general flash files can't just be converted.  SWF is, in most
regards, a virtual machine.. Like Java except far more proprietary and
less general.  So SWF files are executable code that runs in a sandbox
with an extensive standard library for building high-tech dancing
baloney.

A SWF could contain actual video data, encapsulated with a player...
this acts as a fancy form of DRM :), or it could be vector graphics
(like [[SVG]]) with code that makes it move, or it could be just about
anything else.

To convert a non-interactive SVG to video, I'd probably try rigging up
something to capture screenshots of it at high speed, then assemble
the results into a video file.  I can't promise that the results will
be good.

If the SWF is actual video, as opposed to an animated vector drawing,
we should probably try to contact the author and get the content in a
normal video format.