An SWF file is made up of a header, followed by a number of tags. There are two types of tags:
- Definition tags define the objects known as characters, which are stored in the dictionary.
- Control tags manipulate characters, and control the flow of the movie.
All tags share a common format, so any program parsing an SWF file can skip over blocks it does not understand. Tags can be removed, inserted, or modified by tools that process an SWF file.
The Flash writer will be primarily concerned with the definition tags for the shapes and will use the control tags for only simple movie flow control such as the begin and end tags, and placing the objects in the frames.
All Flash frames in a movie are contained in a single file with an .swf extension.
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Filename Extension |
Contents |
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.swf |
All vector geometric data in movie frames |