Viewing FLV Files

A file with the .flv extension is a Flash file.  This article will provide some background on flv files and how to view them on your computer.

Background

Flash is a container file format created by Adobe to delivery video files over the internet.  More technically an flv file can be defined by the following definition:

FLV files generally contain video data that is encoded using the On2 VP6 or Sorenson Spark codec and audio data encoded using an MP3 audio codec.   –Adobe Systems

Other videos format such as .avi, .wmv, .mov, and .mpeg are compressed/encoded into the flv file by a Flash encoder.  The benefits of Flash are numerous and are outside the scope of this article.  If you have recieved, created, or downloaded an flv file it might seem at first difficult to play the flv file.  In fact, is quite simple.  You just need the right software.

VLC Media Player

The VLC media player is your friend.  VLC plays numerous video formats including flv files.  VLC is developed and maintained by the Open Source community and therefore it is fee to use.  You can download VLC from by clicking on the download button from their front page.

After installing VLC, playing an flv is as easy as right clicking on the filename.

After VLC launches the media player has all the similar functions you would expect such as play, pause, seek, etc.

VLC has numerous advanced features that might be far superior to your current media player.  For more information on the VLC player, please visit their wiki page.