FLV 1
Writablevideo
Flash Video, introduced in 2002, is a container format used to deliver digital video content over the internet through Macromedia Flash Player 6 and newer. It includes two primary formats: FLV (the original format) and F4V (introduced later, based on the ISO base media file format). Video streams were commonly encoded with Sorenson Spark (a proprietary variant of the H.263 standard), the first codec supported in Flash Player. Later versions also supported On2 VP6 and H.264. Developed by Macromedia (later acquired by Adobe in 2005), Flash Video became the de facto standard for web-based video streaming in the early 2000s.
Identify it
| Extensions | .flv |
|---|---|
| MIME types | video/x-flv |
| Signatures | 464c5601 at byte 0 (FLV 1) |
| PRONOM | x-fmt/382 |
| Wikidata | Q27967488 |
| Library of Congress | fdd000131 |
Not sure your file is this? Identify it from its first bytes, in your browser.
Open it
- FFmpegOpen source
- ExifToolOpen source
- FFmpeg (WebAssembly)Open source
- GStreamerOpen source
- OpenPuffOpen source
- PhotoRecOpen source
- Q50938515Open source
- VLC media playerOpen source
- xineOpen source
Convert it
Convert a file in your browser The steps marked “in browser” run on your machine; nothing is uploaded.
| To | With | Fidelity | Command and losses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Audio Coding | FFmpeg (WebAssembly) | Partial | in browser Lossy audio only: the video is dropped. |
| FLAC 1.2.1 | FFmpeg | Partial | ffmpeg -i in.flv out.flacAudio track only: the video is dropped. |
| FLAC 1.2.1 | FFmpeg (WebAssembly) | Partial | in browser Audio track only: the video is dropped. |
| MP3 | FFmpeg (WebAssembly) | Partial | in browser Lossy audio only: the video is dropped. |
| Ogg | FFmpeg (WebAssembly) | Partial | in browser Lossy audio only: the video is dropped. |
| Ogg Opus Codec Compressed Multimedia File | FFmpeg (WebAssembly) | Partial | in browser Lossy audio only: the video is dropped. |
| WAV | FFmpeg | Partial | ffmpeg -i in.flv out.wavAudio track only: the video is dropped. |
| WAV | FFmpeg (WebAssembly) | Partial | in browser Audio track only: the video is dropped. |
| AVI | FFmpeg (WebAssembly) | Lossy | in browser Re-encoded with lossy codecs (H.264/AAC, or VP8/Vorbis for WebM). |
| GIF 89a | FFmpeg (WebAssembly) | Lossy | in browser 10 frames per second, at most 480 pixels wide, 256 colours, no sound. |
| Matroska | FFmpeg | Lossy | ffmpeg -i in.flv out.mkvRe-encoded with lossy codecs by default; try `-c copy` to remux without re-encoding when the codecs fit the container. |
| Matroska | FFmpeg (WebAssembly) | Lossy | in browser Re-encoded with lossy codecs (H.264/AAC, or VP8/Vorbis for WebM). |
| MP3 | FFmpeg | Lossy | ffmpeg -i in.flv out.mp3Lossy audio only: the video is dropped. |
| MP4 | FFmpeg | Lossy | ffmpeg -i in.flv out.mp4Re-encoded with lossy codecs by default; try `-c copy` to remux without re-encoding when the codecs fit the container. |
| MP4 | FFmpeg (WebAssembly) | Lossy | in browser Re-encoded with lossy codecs (H.264/AAC, or VP8/Vorbis for WebM). |
| Ogg | FFmpeg | Lossy | ffmpeg -i in.flv out.oggLossy audio only: the video is dropped. |
| QuickTime | FFmpeg (WebAssembly) | Lossy | in browser Re-encoded with lossy codecs (H.264/AAC, or VP8/Vorbis for WebM). |
| WebM | FFmpeg | Lossy | ffmpeg -i in.flv out.webmRe-encoded with lossy codecs by default; try `-c copy` to remux without re-encoding when the codecs fit the container. |
| WebM | FFmpeg (WebAssembly) | Lossy | in browser Re-encoded with lossy codecs (H.264/AAC, or VP8/Vorbis for WebM). |
Sources
From Converters (FFmpeg, ImageMagick, Pandoc, LibreOffice), WebAssembly engines (ImageMagick, FFmpeg, Pandoc, 7-Zip, GDAL, Assimp, resvg), Just Solve the File Format Problem (File Formats Wiki), PRONOM, Wikidata. Updated 2026-10-26.