This page contains information on Flash, a proprietary format for delivering audio and video content, primarily over the Internet.
Flash is non-free/proprietary software
Adobe's Flash plugin cannot be included in Fedora because it is not free/libre and open source software. Adobe does release a version of the Flash plugin for Linux, and this can be used in Firefox, Konqueror and other popular Internet browsers. When Adobe releases a newer version of the Linux Flash plugin, it makes packages available for Fedora, but Fedora cannot include Adobe's plugin as long as it is unavailable as free and open source software.
There are other open alternatives to Flash itself, including the patent unencumbered and free WebM, Ogg Theora video and Ogg Vorbis audio formats. Fedora has complete support for such open formats, and Fedora includes several web browsers including Firefox, Epiphany etc that plays Ogg and WebM files directly, without any need of third party and proprietary browser plugins.
YouTube, Vimeo and WebM support
Google has open sourced an implementation of VP8 video format and combined it with Ogg Vorbis audio and an adaptation of the Matroska container, creating a new format for free and open video and audio called WebM. YouTube is switching over to using WebM extensively and Fedora has embraced this format as well. Current versions of Fedora support WebM by default.
The Vimeo videoportal makes intensive use of javascript, and can in most cases be accessed without the need for Flash.
Youtube will automatically forward your Webbrowser to the right version, where no flash is needed if Flash is not installed on your system. Vimeo does that even more often, even if a flash player is installed.
 Worth to mention
Note that not all videos are available in WebM, or an open webmedia format yet, but the majority of them should play just fine. Flash pluginFor information on installing the plugin, refer to Ask Fedora Flash page See Also |