How to Download Flash Animations

Flash animations are available for download on many websites.

Flash animations appear across the Internet and provide hours of entertainment. The animations come in a variety of sizes. But they sometimes contain complex coding that takes a long time to load. Knowing how to download Flash animations will allow you to enjoy your favorite animations without having to download them constantly.

Things You'll Need

• Internet connection
• Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer

Instructions

Saving with Internet Explorer

1. Open Internet Explorer. Visit the web page containing the animation to be downloaded. Select the "Tools" menu and click "Internet Options" from the drop-down menu.

2. Click "Settings" in the Browser History section of the "General" tab. Click the "View files" button when the "Temporary Internet Files and History Settings" window appears. Wait for the "Temporary Internet Files" folder to appear.

3. Arrange the icons in this folder by type, to make finding the required file easier. To do this, click "View" and select "Arrange by Type." Scroll down the list of files until the Shockwave Flash Object (SWF) file appears. Right-click on the file. Select "Copy" from the pop-up menu. Open the folder on your computer where you want to save the file. Select the "Edit" menu. Click "Paste."

Tips & Warnings

• You can save a Flash animation using Firefox by opening Firefox and browsing to the webpage containing the desired Flash animation that you want to download. After the webpage has loaded, click the "Tools" menu and select the "Page Info" option from the drop-down menu. Click on the "Media" icon. Scroll down the list of files. Select the SWF file (the file that contains the Flash animation) and click "Save As." Select the desired location on your computer to save the file. Click "Okay."

• Wait for the Flash file to load fully before trying to download Flash animations. This ensures that you obtain the complete Flash file. Flash files often stream rather than download fully before playing, making it possible to only get part of the file (which might not load) if you don't wait.

• It's not possible to download YouTube videos using the described methods. As a copyright protection method, YouTube doesn't embed Flash files like other websites. You will require additional plug-ins (small applications that add extra features to larger programs) for your browser to download Flash animations and videos from YouTube. Copyright infringement is an offense and may result in criminal procedures. Respect other people's copyright.

References

• Lance L Hoff: How to Download Embedded SWF Files Using Firefox
• Make Use Of: How to Download Embedded Flash Files Using Your Browser