As open standards like HTML5, WebGL and WebAssembly have matured over the past several years, most now provide many of the capabilities and functionalities that plugins pioneered and have become a viable alternative for content on the web. Over time, Adobe seen helper apps evolve to become plugins, and more recently, have seen many of these plugin capabilities get incorporated into open web standards. Today, most browser vendors are integrating capabilities once provided by plugins directly into browsers and deprecating plugins.
Given this progress, and in collaboration with several of their technology partners – including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla – Adobe has reached end-of-life for Flash. And will specifically stop updating and distributing the Flash Player at the end of 2020. Adobe encourages content creators to migrate any existing Flash content to these new open formats.
Several industries and businesses have been built around Flash technology – including gaming, education and video – and Adobe remained committed to supporting Flash through 2020, as customers and partners put their migration plans into place. Adobe will continue to support Flash on a number of major OS’s and browsers that currently support Flash content through the planned EOL. This will include issuing regular security patches, maintaining OS and browser compatibility and adding features and capabilities as needed.
Adobe remains fully committed to working with partners including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla to maintain the security and compatibility of Flash content. In addition, they plan to move more aggressively to EOL Flash in certain geographies where unlicensed and outdated versions of Flash Player are being distributed.
Adobe will also remain at the forefront of leading the development of new web standards and actively participate in their advancement. This includes continuing to contribute to the HTML5 standard and participating in the WebAssembly Community Group. And we’ll continue to provide best in class animation and video tools such as Adobe Animate, the premier web animation tool for developing HTML5 content, and Premiere Pro.
Looking ahead, Adobe will continue to provide the best tools and services for designers and developers to create amazing content for the web.
