Google Swiffy Transforms Flash Into HTML 5

Google Labs released an experimental web app today called Swiffy that lets developers convert Adobe Flash SWF files to HTML 5. Apple is well known for not supporting Flash in favor of HTML 5, which has made Flash content inaccessible to iOS users. This move by Google is a bit surprising since the search giant has a deal with Adobe to support Flash and even offer the plugin preloaded with its Chrome OS.

Flash files converted to HTML 5 using Swiffy will work on all Webkit browsers such as Chrome and Mobile Safari. It's not certain why Google is providing this solution for developers when their platform fully supports Flash, but it's said that Google engineer Pieter Senster spearheaded the project to address incompatibility issues of Flash-based mobile ads with iOS.

However, by offering an easy way to convert, developers are more likely to post HTML 5 versions rather than Flash in order to be accessible via iOS. This may work against Flash, but at this point only certain SWF files that involve simple animations can be converted. You can check out Swiffy here.

[via ReadWriteWeb]