How to Save an Adobe Flash Movie

Knowing how to save an Adobe Flash movie is a useful but elusive trick for most computer users. You should be able to save these movies without an add-on whether you are using Firefox or Internet Explorer as your Web browser, but Firefox and other Mozilla-based browsers make it easier. Consider any of these options for saving these files for later:

Bookmarklet For Any Web Browser: Regardless of the Web browser you use, perhaps the simplest way to save an Adobe Flash movie is to use a simple bookmarklet. Just save the link below to your Bookmarks folder and use it on a Web page that has the movie you want to download.

javascript:document.location='http://keepvid.com/?url='+escape(window.location)

Built-In Option On Firefox And Mozilla-Based Browsers: In Firefox and other Mozilla-based browsers like Flock and SeaMonkey, the ability to save an Adobe Flash movie is built right into the browser. Simply right-click on the web page containing the Flash movie and select "View Page Info..." Go to the "Media" tab in the dialog box that pops up, where you will see a list of all the images, movies and other media available on the page. Pick out the Flash movie you are looking for, and then select "Save As..." Put it in your "Movies" folder or somewhere else you can easily access it, and you're done.

Extensions And Plug-Ins: If you are using Internet Explorer, you will need to add a plug-in to gain the functionality of downloading Adobe Flash movies. For Firefox, you can also download an extension that makes tapping the browser's built-in media-saving capabilities easier to use.

For Internet Explorer, you will need to install the Flash Saving Plugin, which adds a button to your Internet Explorer toolbar from which you can save any Flash animation on the Web page you are currently viewing. The Flash Saving Plugin also comes with the SWF Cache Viewer, which enables you to easily view Flash movies in your browser cache. As for Firefox, the extension VideoDownloader for Firefox enables you to download Adobe Flash movies and other videos with just a few clicks.

Your Web Browser Cache: The Flash movie you would like to save is probably already on your computer; all you have to do is go get it and move it to a folder you can easily access. Your browser cache saves every Web page, image and movie you view from the internet for a brief period of time, so you should be able to find the Flash movie, if you have accessed it recently, right there in your browser cache. Each browser treats its cache differently, so how to access them varies slightly. Digital Inspiration has http://labnol.blogspot.com/2005/11/save-flash-from-firefox-and-ie.html for saving movies in this way for Firefox and Internet Explorer.