# Can I play Macromedia Flash movies (.swf) by double-clicking?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-play-macromedia-flash-movies-swf-by-double-clicking/344348
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 13, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-play-macromedia-flash-movies-swf-by-double-clicking/344348 "2006-02-13T22:15:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-play-macromedia-flash-movies-swf-by-double-clicking/344348/1 "2006-02-13T22:15:44Z")
Having used .swfs in my professional web pages for many years now, I feel kind of dumb asking:
Is there any way to play a .swf movie just by double-clicking it?
That is, can I view one without it being embedded in an HTML page (or without running the actual Macromedia Flash authoring software … my business partner is the Flash guy, so he has MX on his computer … I haven’t had the actual Flash app on my machine since Flash 4 was the latest thing)?
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2006, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-play-macromedia-flash-movies-swf-by-double-clicking/344348/2 "2006-02-13T22:38:52Z")
You need a standalone Flash player, such as [this one](http://www.snapfiles.com/get/swiffplayer.html) in order to play .SWF files without launching your browser.
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### Author:  [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2006, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-play-macromedia-flash-movies-swf-by-double-clicking/344348/3 "2006-02-13T23:50:52Z")
sorry–I’m on a Mac. (10.2.8)
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-play-macromedia-flash-movies-swf-by-double-clicking/344348/4 "2006-02-13T23:55:26Z")
Of course you are. :smack:
In that case, give [this one](http://www.downloadjunction.com/product/store/24151/index.html) a shot.
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### Author:  [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-play-macromedia-flash-movies-swf-by-double-clicking/344348/5 "2006-02-14T00:25:49Z")
Beautiful! Thank you! Works like a charm.
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-play-macromedia-flash-movies-swf-by-double-clicking/344348/6 "2006-02-14T00:27:02Z")
I set the .swf default to play with Firefox. I have the flash player plugin for FireFox installed. Firefox opens and plays the flash animation drictly from my hard drive. You could also right click and select run with FireFox if you don’t wish to set FireFox as the default application for .swf.