I actually would nejoy working with flash if I knew how to reduce the size of the swf files I always seem to end up with. Am i doing something wrong or have i forgotten one size reducing application. Kindly help
Hello
Images imported into flash add to the size alot.
Try to not use alot of images within the .fla file and load them externally.
Later
Johnny
A good option will be to import PNG images in Flash rather than GIF or JPEG.
Secondly, if you place many blank frames in the movie to increase time between 2 events or animations, better use the setInterval() action. Frames add to the size of the movie.
Also, its better to use actions whenever possible instead of other means. Would make your movie quite light.
Lastly, if you are using FlashMX, there’s an option to compress movies in the Publish Movie dialog. Though I’ve never seen any positives of it other than that it sometimes reduces the size of the movie by 1-2KB. 
another thing, if you are using sounds in the movie, its better to load them seperately through actions. If that’s not possible, then in the Publish Movie dialog, set the Audio Stream & Audio Event to MP3/16Kbps/Fast.
Hi Toluf
How large do your files end up being? I find that by using the bandwidth profiler (Ctrl+Enter to test and Ctrl+B to get up the bandwidth profile if it’s not already open), I can easily see where the large resources are. Then I can work on compressing them.
1 way 2 reduce size is to Reuse, reuse, reuse… i mean reuse the symbols over and over again
asp_funda, big thanks, I will ne trying that out .
Johhny Gulag, while I know what u said is a fact, can I really help if I need a little more images? I guess not thanks all the same
SolitaryR@F, I always do that.
Render slave, I usually end up wit 200KB upwards. I will try ur suggestion and get back to you
Off Topic:
Hey Solitary!! Welcome back!! How was your vacation? Didn’t missed you here in the Flash Forums.
[ot] Hey asp_funda, thanks for the ‘welcome back’ post. The vacation was, well, relaxing :).
Next time I leave, I’ll make sure you miss me! 
[/ot]
Off Topic:
Thanks, hte bandwidht profiler has helped me identify the heavy point like you said. but then, i still do not know what to do next. there are two point (61B and 117B each) and there are the points where
- a solid box was introduced
- an image (Compressed Jpeg) was introduced.
Before and after this point, I have a consistence of 2B minimun and 6B Maximum
Nothing much you can do with the box. It will be vectored art, so that won’t get any smaller
The JPG can be made smaller. Go to your Library, select your image, double click on it. In the Properties window that opens, play around with the settings and press the Test button to see how large the compressed file will be. In the little preview window, you can drag around the image to see how it will look with those settings.
Also make sure that the image you have imported is not too large. Scaling images in Flash will leave you with the original large resource when you publish. Try scaling and cropping in something like Photoshop instead, but when you export from there, save it at highest quality JPG or maximum colour GIF. Do your final compression in Flash.
I’m a bit concerned that your JPG is 117B (that’s very small). Do you mean 117kB?
Anyway, compressing audio, video or images is a bit of an art. Different compression methods give vastly different results depending on the source material. It all comes down to understanding the compression methods. And you can get a good feel for that by spending some time experimenting
Good luck Toluf
PNG is way better to be used in Flash than JPEG or GIF images, simply b’coz PNG offers more compression with least loss in quality. And like GIF, it also supports transparency.
If you work with some big or hi-profile pictures, just try it once. Export an image as a GIF & as a PNG & import both in a Flash Movie. Place both side-by-side on the scene & view the movie in Player. If you notice carefully, you’ll see that the GIF image is a bit grainy while the PNG image is as it was in Photoshop/Fireworks(whatever you use).
this is a good article about keeping file size down (thus creating a faster loading time)!
Hope that helps!
Yeah it’s a good article alright. It discusses things that’ve been told here & a few more with a bit of explanation.
:musicman: Big thanks to you all, I have solved current problem but I think this forum should reamin open for more solutions. If you have contrary opinion, let me know. Big thanks once again :nod:
Alternatively, I guess you could also consider using utitlies like Optimaze to optimize your movie size. However, it’s a good idea to have the basics right.
Cheers!
Shalin Jain
Tools like that rarely do compression like they claim to be. A while ago some one told me about SWF Optimiser & said that it compressed SWF movies to about 70% of their original size.
I thought that I’d try it out. I got the full feature trial version good enough for 100 movies. I tried to compress an SWF movie which I’d just finished. It sure did compress it for me. The original SWF’s size was 500KB, the compressed SWF’s file size read 498KB. That’s quite a big compression. 
The claims that the makers of these tools make, are just for fooling the gullible, its all rubbish. The only way they’ll compress your movie to make an impact is if you goof up with your Flash & put in still frames uselessly. Otherwise, if you follow the basics of Flash Optimisation, your movie is already compressed, you can’t compress it anymore, heck, even zip tools wouldn’t lessen its size.
Also, in FlashMX & above, there’s an option to compress the movie in Publish Settings but this will only work if you export your movie for Flash Player6 or above.
I agree with asp_funda, I used Optimaze and Flash Optimizer b4 I started this thread. A testimony of how far it got me (3KB Size Difference), attempts to further reduce it got my images squashed.
SWF format starting with Flash 5.0 changed the basic file format and hence optimizing SWF compression.
I had never tried tools like those but I am suprised they don’t that well anymore.
Cheers,
Shalin Jain