# FlashArch

> An archive of Adobe Flash and Adobe Director content - games, animations, digital art, educational material and utilities - that plays in the browser through the Ruffle emulator, with no plugin to install.

Adobe Flash Player reached end of life on 2020-12-31 and browsers removed the plugin, leaving a large body of work unrunnable. FlashArch collects the SWF and Director files that were left behind, records what is known about each one (title, developer, publisher, release year, genre tags, compatibility notes) and runs them in the browser. Anyone with an account can upload a file and edit its metadata.

65,777 works are archived so far. Each work has its own page at `/{locale}/archive/play/{md5}`, keyed by the MD5 checksum of the original file, so the same work always resolves to the same URL.

The interface is translated into 10 languages, each served under a locale prefix (en, ko, de, es, fr, ja, pt, ru, zh-CN, zh-TW). Work titles and descriptions are written in Korean and English only; every other locale shows the English text. The links below use `en`.

## Browse the archive

- [Archive](https://flasharch.com/en/archive): The full catalogue. Filter by category, emulator engine, release year and content language, or search by title, description, tag, developer or publisher.
- [Browse by topic](https://flasharch.com/en/archive/search): Hub linking the tag, developer, publisher and collection indexes.
- [Tag index](https://flasharch.com/en/archive/search/tags): Every genre and theme tag in use, with the number of works under each.
- [Developer index](https://flasharch.com/en/archive/search/developers): Every credited developer, linking to the works credited to them.
- [Publisher index](https://flasharch.com/en/archive/search/publishers): Every credited publisher, linking to the works released under it.
- [Collections](https://flasharch.com/en/archive/collection): Curated groupings: series, franchises and recurring characters.
- [Most played](https://flasharch.com/en/archive/best): Ranked by play count for the day, the week and all time.
- [Art gallery](https://flasharch.com/en/archive/art): Works filed as digital art, shown as images rather than as a playable list.
- [Archive overview](https://flasharch.com/en/archive/stat): Preservation statistics: number of works, total play time, stored size, and breakdowns by language and release year.

## Tools

- [Play a local file](https://flasharch.com/en/play): Runs an SWF or Director file the visitor already has, in the browser. The file is not uploaded to the archive.
- [Player app](https://flasharch.com/en/download): Desktop application for running local Flash content offline and for browsing the archive outside a browser.

## Documentation

- [Help](https://flasharch.com/en/docs): Frequently asked questions about the archive, playback, uploading and accounts.
- [About FlashArch](https://flasharch.com/en/docs/about-flasharch): What the project is, when it started and what it collects.
- [Requirements](https://flasharch.com/en/docs/requirements): What a browser and machine need in order to run the emulator.
- [Compatibility list](https://flasharch.com/en/docs/compatibility): Which archived works currently run under the emulator, and which do not.
- [When content does not run](https://flasharch.com/en/docs/content-not-working): Diagnosis steps for works that fail to load, run slowly or behave incorrectly.
- [Flash Player end of life](https://flasharch.com/en/docs/adobe-flash-player-end-of-life): Background on the 2020-12-31 shutdown of Adobe Flash Player and what it means for existing content.
- [Adobe Shockwave and Director](https://flasharch.com/en/docs/adobe-shockwave): How Director content differs from Flash and why it is emulated separately.
- [Upload guideline](https://flasharch.com/en/docs/archive-upload-guideline): What may be uploaded, how metadata is expected to be filled in, and what is rejected.
- [Content terms of use](https://flasharch.com/en/docs/content-terms-of-use): How archived works may be used, and how a rights holder can request removal.

## Community

- [Community board](https://flasharch.com/en/boards/0): Discussion, walkthroughs, requests and reports about archived works.
- [News](https://flasharch.com/en/news): Announcements about the site, the player app and notable additions.

## Optional

- [Terms of service](https://flasharch.com/en/docs/terms-of-service): Terms covering accounts and use of the site.
- [Privacy policy](https://flasharch.com/en/privacy): What the site stores about visitors and accounts.
- [Open source licenses](https://flasharch.com/en/docs/license): Licenses of the software FlashArch is built on, including Ruffle.
- [Support the project](https://flasharch.com/en/donate): How the archive is funded.
- [Sitemap index](https://flasharch.com/sitemap.xml): Machine-readable index pointing to every archived work, community post and news article.