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Google Swiffy was a web-based tool developed byGoogle that convertedSWF files toHTML5. Its main goal was to displayFlash contents on devices that do not supportFlash, such asiPhone,iPad, andAndroidTablets. Swiffy was shut down on July 1, 2016.[1]
Aclosed source web service hosted by Google converts SWF to anintermediate representation serialized asJSON. This representation is in turn converted intoSVG in the web browser viaJavaScript, which is also used for animations. The Swiffy thesis (2012) explains its general approach in the following way:[2]: 15
The choice of SVG for rendering leaves us with several options to animate the SVG content. At first sight, bothCSS animation andSMIL, adhere to our design goal of using a declarative representation when possible. However, both technologies provide insufficient control over the animation when support forActionScript scripting is required. For example, although the concept ofkeyframes exists in CSS animation, it does not provide a mechanism to synchronise the JavaScript code to those keyframes or to modify the timeline from JavaScript, which is a basic feature required for SWF compatibility. Another limiting factor is that animation in the SWF file itself is not defined in terms of high-level transitions, but defines the position of every object at specific keyframes. Mapping these definitions back onto CSS or SMIL transitions is not always possible. Finally, these standards are not widely available: The CSS animation specification is still in working draft state, while SMIL is not implemented in theInternet Explorer browser. We have therefore chosen to use JavaScript to animate SVG on the client. Although this imperative approach might be less efficient, the level of control it provides is required to match all SWF functionality.
Google Swiffy supported a subset ofSWF 10,ActionScript 2.0 andActionScript 3.0.
Swiffy was started in the summer of 2011 by Google engineering intern Pieter Senster, who joined their mobile advertising team to search for solutions to display Flash content on devices that do not support Flash. Progress on Swiffy was sufficient that Google hired him full-time and formed a team to work on the project. The product manager of Google Swiffy was Marcel Gordon.[3]
Swiffy 6.0.1 was released on February 11, 2014.
Swiffy was shut down July 1, 2016.[1]
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