What is Flash Video and how to open a flv file?

Faced with the question of how to open flv, you should understand the reasons for the origin and the principle of storing data in objects that have this extension. The development of Internet technologies and the growth of video content on the Web have led to the need for a data format that allows the task of compact data storage and their reception and transmission. This format should have allowed to significantly compress audio and video data; Provide streaming playback and store metadata describing the technology for playback / modification.

Adobe, the developer of flash format and technology, implemented this by creating a file type - a media container that received the flv extension. Media container from Adobe is several objects in one file: video, sound, description of codecs, etc.

Exaggerated, the file flv can be described as follows: the container contains a sound track and a video sequence, and codecs for playback are described in the container metadata area. I repeat, codecs and their type are only described, but not contained! This is due to the need to ensure the minimum file size and the availability of the necessary codec necessary to not think about what to open the flv-container.

Note : In my opinion, the best collection of audio and video codecs, to date, is the K-Lite Codec Pack (at the time of writing, the 9.7 package was available on the Web). The package includes all the most popular and common codecs. In addition, it contains the player Media Player Classic, perhaps the most acceptable version of what to open flv-files. And the set of codecs, and the MP3 player itself - are absolutely free and do not require registrations for downloading and using.

Despite the fact that, mainly, files of this type are used for online streaming video streaming on the network, it is possible to store these files locally and to play them offline. Below I will talk about how to download video in flv format, than to open it for playback and edit.

The main "provider" of streaming video to the Network is now YouTube (video storage service) and all social networks (facebook, Facebook, Twitter, Classmates, etc.). All these Internet services allow you to watch videos, but do not give the possibility to download the flv container. How to open and how to save the video to the hard disk?

Everything is simple enough. Since the streaming video format assumes the transfer (stream) of data for playback to the user's side, our browser with you will receive this information and reproduce it. In any browser there is a "cache". This is the area of temporary storage of data, without the need for them to be downloaded again from the Internet. It can be in RAM or on a local hard disk. It is from the "cache" that we will get the video we are looking for, and how to open flv - everyone will choose himself.

Consider, for example, the Google Chrome browser. When playing video in the same classmates, you can easily download it in flv format. To do this, in the list of clips on the video you are interested in, you must right-click and select "View Item Code". At the bottom of the service window. In it we are interested in the "Networks" tab (the upper right part of the service window).

After clicking the play button, a file with an arbitrary name and a flv extension will appear in it. On it it is necessary, again, to press the right mouse button - "Save as ...". Done! A video from social networks will be located in the place of the hard drive to which you indicated. There you can also specify a different name for it, since the service filename can contain a meaningless set of characters.

In conclusion, it should be added that the flv format can easily be converted to any other video format. To convert flv to avi or mp4, you can use any of the video converters, which in the vastness of the Internet a great many.