Google Swiffy ports Flash files to HTML5

Google delivered a possible snub to its partner Adobe on Tuesday by posting Swiffy. The Google Labs project converts SWF files into HTML5 that will run in browsers that also support JavaScript objects, SVG (scalable vector graphics), and CSS3. The resulting pages work in any modern browser, desktop or mobile.

The app is possible now that JavaScript rendering and hardware-boosted web code can give the features of Flash, Product Manager Marcel Gordon said. Currently, it works best for ads and animations and may not necessarily port games or other particularly complex SWF files.

Although Google makes no mention of Apple by name, the project is conspicuously aimed at letting site owners and Flash developers serve iOS users without having to either drop content or use a more elaborate conversion process. Swiffy's core developer, Pieter Senster, was brought on in 2010 to investigate the possibility of showing Flash content on "devices that don’t support Adobe Flash player," a direct reference to iPads and iPhones.

The step is slightly unusual for Google. The site has regularly made it a point to support both Flash and real web standards like HTML5. Supporting Swiffy beyond Labs, however, could have companies favor HTML5 instead by having them post most of their content in the more accessible format.

Adobe itself has willingly developed tools to convert AIR and Flash to HTML5 but has also been adamant about protecting Flash's share as much as possible. Its deals with Google have Flash preloaded in Chrome and have many phone makers both shipping Flash on their devices and encouraged to make it a central selling point.

By Electronista Staff

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iPod, iPhone, industry, software, Google, Android, Adobe, Flash, mobile phones, AIR, Apple, Chrome, iPad, HTML5, Swiffy