Why Won’t My FLV’s Display?
Sunday, July 15th, 2007Categories: Adobe Flash, Troubleshooting
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This is possibly the hardest problem to troubleshoot, because without knowing the reason why it’s not working, you can’t really pin-point a solution, troubleshoot or explain your problem on a web forum. So tell me why:
Why won’t my Flash Player load my FLV online?
Here’s what you probably did:
- You created an new SWF file
- You inserted the FLV Playback Component – Player 8
- You probably skinned it, changed the source file to your.FLV file
- Tested it (CTRL-Enter) and it worked
- Uploaded it, and it didn’t
These are many of the problems you’ll experience:
- FLV works when previewing (CTRL-Enter) in Adobe Flash
- You double-checked and triple-checked the paths and filenames and uploaded as they were onto your server
- Typing in the URL for the FLV file yields nothing, or yields letters and numbers.
- You tried explaining your problem on forums and no one had any idea.
Getting Your FLV to Work
The problem could be that your server isn’t recognizing the extension type. This is often the case if you’re running a server you setup yourself or using a not-very-popular web host. The problem lies with the MIME type. Don’t worry, you don’t need to have any idea what it means or what it is. (But if you’re curious, you can always check Wikipedia) This is quite easy to fix.
If you set up your own hosting
If you set up your own hosting, this is quite easy. (Please note that you have to be using IIS or Windows-based hosting).
- Open up IIS
- Select your server and hit Properties (You can also apply this change to individual sites)
- Hit the HTTP Headers tab
- You should see File Types in MIME Map Section
- Select New Type
- Type .flv under Associated Extension
- Type video/x-flv as the Content Type
- Hit OK
- Restart IIS
If you buy hosting
If you buy hosting, you can easily forward them the instructions above and I’m sure they’ll take care of that for you.
Good luck!
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March 5th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Thankyou so much for this!
Such a simple fix
March 5th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
No problem James.
The reason I created this article is because when I had this problem, I didn’t know how to ask the question in Google to find an answer.
April 6th, 2008 at 6:23 am
Thank you, this was a big help, but now I have a new problem. The FLV movie plays, but there is no control bar. Do you know how to fix this? It plays fine when previewing it, but we know just how little that means with flash…
April 6th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Hi Pseudacris, thanks for the help.
You need to make an SWF with a media control (or media player, something like that) component in it. And that’s what you need to load on your HTML page.
April 6th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Thanks for the quick reply. I ended up using this guys tutorial to get me through the night at GoToAndLearn.com I’ve watched his videos before. They’re such a life saver. He explains everything he does and all the code and of course you can skip through the stuff you already know. Anyway, I highly recommend it. I sound like an advertisement; he’s just very helpful and I do this stuff a lot, so he really comes in handy.
If someone else is having the same problem, here’s the links to the tut:
Tutuorial 1 on flv
Tutorial 2 on flv
April 19th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Hi there,
I am experiencing the same problems with my FLV files. I added the MIME type to my paid host (siteground) but problem still persists. Not getting much help from hosting company and very frustrated.
April 19th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Sbell, what happens when you go to the FLV in the browser? Do you have a link to it so I can test?
April 19th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Hi there, thanks for the reply.
Here’s the direct link to the .swf file which should be loading the FLV file that is sitting in the same directory.
http://www.ilovemyliferightnow.com/drupal/sites/all/themes/pilsner/files/videoTRY.swf
April 19th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
What happens when you visit the FLV file in that same directory in your browser? The SWF not working can be due to a number of issues. Let’s see if we can get the FLV bit working first.
April 19th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Hi there,
I may have made a breakthrough. I went through the entire process again from the beginning (converting a .mov to a .flv) and using the FLV Playback Component built into flash, exported the swf, uploaded it and now visiting it seems to work. I have no clue why this didn’t work in the first place. Thanks for your help.
April 19th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
No problem. Sbell. Just glad everything worked out.
June 4th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
This has happened to me on two occasions and other erratic behavior occurred in my system. When this happened I had a flash memory stick plugged into my usb port for a lengthy time. It appears that when I leave a flash stick plugged in it interferes with the normal operation of the computer and will even permanently corrupt system files. I have to remember not to leave the stick plugged in too long. The only way I can restore the system now is to, nooo!, re-install the operating system. If I can ever get my flash videos to work again on my independent flv players that will be by luck.
June 25th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Guys, I’m experiencing the same issue. I have a video component on my stage and using AS3 to pull in flv videos. I have all the standard settings set and when I test the movie in Flash it functions fine.
For some reason when I upload all the files to my host the play controls don’t display??
If you go to http://www.sojournersound.com then the “archive” tab, you can see whats happening with the player. This has been plaguing me for a week and driving me crazy!
Any Ideas?? Thanks!
June 25th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Hi Siyah,
The issue I described is not likely the one I described. On your server, did you make sure to upload the player.swf file? If AS3 is anything like AS2, you’ll need: The main SWF file, the FLV and the player SWF file.
September 16th, 2008 at 12:42 am
Hi
Remove Update Panel if u have used in that page. Your prob. will be solved.
November 19th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Patrick, my friend, you are a life saver!!
Thank you!
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:00 am
This was really useful – i was having a two-pronged issue – with the swf media skin asset not linked correctly & the .flv file type not being recognized; and this helped us solve the one problem & then trouble-shoot the other! thanks heaps
December 31st, 2008 at 12:34 pm
You Sir just made my day….! You should know that I spent the last 7 hours searching and searching, trying, as you say so correctly, to find the right words to phrase my question. And then, (use your favorite clouds-opening, sunshine-filtering-through, music here) I found your suggestion and even more, I find your explanation which is scary how much it looks like my own problem.
I did it, it was rather easy and now I’m bookmarking and printing your advice. Thank you very much!!!
It is for people like you that the web is so great…!
March 22nd, 2009 at 12:19 pm
WOW! You ARE a lifesaver. I have been battling this issue for days. It never even occurred to me that the web hosting company I am using as a web designer/Hosting reseller would not have that mime type already configured. I manually added it to the particular site I was working on and voila! Hat’s off my friend. Judging by the other comments I see her as well as my own your FREE help is truly appreciated!
April 9th, 2009 at 6:34 am
Thanks soo much for this I was in the very same boat as you Patrick, but you bailed it out
June 9th, 2009 at 7:06 am
You have no idea how long i have been trying to figure this out. Its almost like you have been sat on my shoulder watching me struggle through endless google searches. YOU ARE A LEGEND thank you thank you thank you.
I created my first ever flash movie using Macromedia Flash 8, added it to a webpage created in Dreamweaver and tested it all was working well until i uploaded it to the web, then all i got was a blank area!!
For you to give up your time like this and help people out is truly admirable and reaffirms my faith in man (and woman) kind
May 28th, 2010 at 7:44 am
Easy fix! Thanks!
December 7th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! I wasted an entire day trying to get this to work before I came upon your site. 2 sec fix. Wish I would have found this 8 hours ago.
December 29th, 2011 at 2:07 pm
I’m not certain the place you’re getting your information, but great topic. I must spend some time studying more or figuring out more. Thank you for magnificent info I used to be looking for this info for my mission.