SWF

SWF is the file format exported from professional versions of Macromedia Flash for playback by Flash Player. The content can range from simple animations to complex applets and games with interactivity scripted in ActionScript. Source files from which SWF files are authored and generated are in .fla format.

History
The file format originated at FutureWave Software as .spl files that could be played back with FutureSplash Player. The company was then acquired by Macromedia. FutureSplash then became Macromedia Flash. All versions of Flash Player are backwards compatible with the original .spl files.

The term "SWF" originated as an abbreviation for Shockwave Flash. The backronym Small Web Format has also been used to avoid confusion with a different technology, Shockwave, with which SWF is associated. There has been no official resolution to the initialism "SWF" by Adobe, which acquired Macromedia in December 2005.