Faced with the question of how to open flv, you should understand the reasons for the occurrence and the principle of data storage in objects that have this extension. The development of Internet technologies and the growth of video content on the Web have led to the need for a data format that allows you to perform the task of compact data storage and transmission. This format was supposed to allow significant compression of audio and video data; provide streaming playback and store metadata describing the technology for playback / change.
Adobe, a developer of the format and technology for flash, accomplished this by creating a file type — a media container that received the flv extension. Adobe's media container consists of several objects in one file: video sequence, sound, description of codecs, etc.
Exaggerated, the flv file can be described as follows: the container contains the audio track and video sequence, and the codecs for playback are described in the container metadata area. I repeat, codecs and their type are only described, but not contained! This is due to the need to ensure a minimum file size and the presence of the necessary codec is necessary so as not to think about how to open the flv-container.
Note : In my personal opinion, the best collection of audio and video codecs, by far, is the K-Lite Codec Pack (at the time of writing, version 9.7 of the package was available on the Web). The package includes all the most popular and common codecs. In addition, it contains Media Player Classic, perhaps the most acceptable option for opening flv files. Both the set of codecs and the MPC player itself are absolutely free and do not require registration for download and use.
Despite the fact that, mainly, files of this type are used for online broadcasting of streaming video on the network, it is possible to locally store these files and play them offline. Below I will talk about how to download video in flv format, than open it for playback and edit.
The main "provider" of streaming video to the Network now is YouTube (video storage service) and all social networks (VKontakte, Facebook, Twitter, Odnoklassniki, etc.). All these Internet services allow you to watch videos, but do not allow you to download the flv container. How to open and how to save a video clip of interest to a hard disk?
Everything is quite simple. Since the format of streaming video involves the transfer (stream) of data for playback on the side of the user, our browser will receive and reproduce this information. In any browser there is a "cache". This is the name of the area of temporary storage of data without the need to re-download it from the Internet. It can be in RAM or on a local hard drive. It is from the "cache" that we will get the video you are looking for, and with what to open flv - everyone will choose for himself.
Consider, for example, the Google Chrome browser. When playing video in the same Odnoklassniki, you can easily download it in flv format. To do this, in the list of clips on the video of interest, right-click and select "View item code." A service window will open at the bottom. In it, we are interested in the “Networks” tab (the upper right part of the service window).
After pressing the play button, a file with an arbitrary name and flv extension will appear in it. On it, again, you need to press the right mouse button - "Save As ...". Done! The video from social networks will be located in the place of the hard drive that you pointed to. You can also specify a different name for it there, since the service name of the file may contain a meaningless character set.
In conclusion, it is worth adding that the flv format can easily be converted to any other video format. To convert flv to avi or mp4, you can use any of the video converters, of which there are a great many on the Internet.