The plugin is automatically updated by Chrome so, as long as you have the latest version of Chrome, you should always have the latest version of the plugin too. Tip: if you see ‘fixes’ that recommend disabling 1 of the 2 Shockwave Flash plugins in Chrome, that advice is obsolete – there is no second plugin. A W3Techs report shows that Flash was used by 28.5% of websites back in 2011 – that has gone down to just 3.5% in 2020. In recent years, Flash Player usage has been in terminal decline – websites have increasingly switched over to newer and more powerful open standards such as HTML5. With hindsight, that decision by Apple, to disallow Flash on the most popular phones and tablets in history, was the beginning of a protracted end for Flash Player… Perhaps its biggest setback was the infamous ‘Thoughts on Flash’ letter by Steve Jobs in 2010 where he criticized it for poor security and banned Flash Player from iOS products such as the iPad and iPhone. Do You Still Need Flash in 2020?Ī decade ago Shockwave Flash was still very widely used by websites to display videos and games – as late as 2013 Adobe reported that over 1 billion PCs had Flash Player installed to play, for example, Facebook games and YouTube videos.īut, as a closed (proprietary) standard, Flash always had its critics – it acquired an unwanted reputation for security vulnerabilities, crashes and poor performance.

In fact, since 2015, Chrome only uses the integrated plugin – even if you install standalone Flash plugins for other browsers, they will not be used by Chrome. They suggest disabling one to stop the other crashing – ignore them, that hasn’t been true for 4 years… Note: some websites give outdated ‘help’ about having 2 Flash plugins – the integrated one and a separate standalone plugin. This plugin is part of Chrome – you do not need to install a separate Flash Player plugin (as you do for some web browsers like Firefox). What Is the Shockwave Flash Chrome Plugin?įlash Player is free software by Adobe (of Photoshop fame) for viewing video and audio files created on the Adobe Flash platform – such files are in the SWF format (short for ShockWave Flash).Īdobe Flash Player runs within Google Chrome as a plugin – it is now the last remaining plugin (module developed by a third party) in Chrome.

Test in a New Incognito Window (Private Browsing)

7 Steps To Fix Flash Not Working In Chrome.What Is the Shockwave Flash Chrome Plugin?.

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