Flash refers to both the Adobe Flash Professional multimedia authoring program and the Adobe Flash Player. Since its introduction a decade ago, Flash technology has evolved into a popular method for adding interactivity and animation to web pages. A number of software products, devices and systems can create or display Flash.

Most common web browsers include the Flash Player, and there are also some versions available for mobile phones and other devices that are not necessarily PCs or laptops. The Flash Professional is an integrated development environment where the Player is used.

There are other plug-ins such as Acrobat Reader, QuickTime, Java, and Windows Media Player. But the advantages of Flash are a small install size, fast initailization time, and quick download time. Flash files tend to be smaller than their corresponding video clips or bitmaps.