Google Swiffy Converts Flash Animations into HTML5

There's been a lot of talk about Flash versus HTML5. While Adobe is trying to appease everyone and not start a format war, there is a clear need for Flash content to be displayed on devices that don't support it, which is why there are several projects that aim to convert Flash files into standard formats like HTLM5 and company.

Google is the latest to join the effort, with the launch of Swiffy, a tool for converting Flash animations and some script into HTML5, SVG, CSS3, JavaScript code and so on.

"Today we’re making the first version of Swiffy available on Google Labs. You can upload a SWF file, and Swiffy will produce an HTML5 version which will run in modern browsers with a high level of SVG support such as Chrome and Safari," Marcel Gordon, product manager for Swiffy, wrote.

Don't get your hopes up too high, it's still an early project and isn't exactly a full-blown converter. Rather, it can take a Flash source file for animations such as a banner ad and create an SVG animation similar to it.

The tool works for some simple scripts, for example, it can convert some interactive elements, but that's about it. Of course, that is pretty much what most people looking for this type of tool are going to need.

From the get go, Swiffy was designed for ads in particular, since this is the content in most need of a way of being displayed on devices with no Flash support, aka the iPhone and the iPad.

"Swiffy uses a compact JSON representation of the animation, which is rendered using SVG and a bit of HTML5 and CSS3. ActionScript 2.0 is also present in the JSON object, and is interpreted in JavaScript in the browser. This representation makes the Swiffy animations almost as compact as the original SWF files," Gordon explained.

Because of the optimization to the JavaScript code, the conversion isn't great for editing, so any changes have to be made to the original Flash file. But the results are promising already. Google is not the only one offering this type of tool, Adobe is working on something similar.