Adobe Releases Flash to HTML5 Converter

Adobe has introduced an interesting new tool which converts Flash content into HTML5. Don't get too excited, it's not the answer to everyone's problems as it may seem, since it only works for animations, banners and things of that nature, but it's a start and a glimpse of a future where Flash and HTML5 are not competitors, but rather complementary technologies, like Adobe has been trying to convince anyone willing to listen.

"Adobe’s job is to help you solve problems, not to get hung up on one technology vs. another," John Nack, Principal Product Manager at Adobe, wrote.

"Millions of people have honed their Web animation skills in Flash, and now their customers want content that can run anywhere, including on non-Flash-enabled devices. Accordingly Adobe’s releasing 'Wallaby,' an experimental Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool," he announced.

Wallaby is an experimental tool and is only available in Adobe Labs for now. It's not exactly new either, Adobe showcased the functionality months ago, but it's now available for everyone.

It does come with some rather big limitations, but for certain types of content, many of the things people use Flash for, it already quite usable.

Wallaby converts Flash artwork and animations from raw .fla files and exports them as HTML, along with the accompanying images. The vector graphics are converted to SVG files, static images to JPEG files and text is inserted in the HTML file.

However, anything beyond simple animations can't be converted, no ActionScript or media files such as video or audio. The latter two could be supported, since HTML5 does come with both an <audio> and a <video> file, but don't get your hopes up for ActionScript any time soon.

What's more, the converted files are aimed at WebKit-based browsers, meaning Google Chrome, Apple Safari and, crucially, mobile Safari as well. The Android browser is based on WebKit as well.

Despite the limitations, the tool could prove great for banner ads and simple animations. What it means is that the only benefit of not having Flash support, fewer annoying ads, will be gone.

Adobe Wallaby for Windows is available for download here.