Once one of the most widely used technologies for displaying media-rich content on the web, Adobe Flash has been deprecated and has now made its exit from the internet. Although Mozilla disabled Flash in Firefox starting January 2021, as the platform reached its end of life, you can still use it if you need to access websites that rely on Adobe Flash. This tutorial shows you how to enable Flash in Firefox and allow it to run on the sites you trust:
NOTE: This “Firefox enable Flash” tutorial covers Mozilla Firefox version 85 or newer.
Flash Player Firefox: Disabled
In case you want details for why this happens, the Adobe Flash Player EOL General Information Page makes it clear the company “[...] no longer supports Flash Player after December 31, 2020, and blocked Flash content from running in Player beginning January 12, 2021.”
Adobe Flash Player EOL 2021
While it may look like you can no longer enable Flash in Firefox, there is a solution. Without further ado, here’s how to allow Flash on Firefox:
Ruffle Flash extension for Firefox
Save the Ruffle browser extension somewhere on your computer, like on your Desktop or in the Downloads folder.
Saving the Ruffle browser extension for Firefox Flash
Back in your Mozilla Firefox browser, type about:debugging in its address bar, and press Enter on your keyboard.
about:debugging page in Firefox
On the left sidebar, select This Firefox. Then, click or tap on the “Load Temporary Add-on…” button from the top-left area of the Extensions page.
Load Temporary Add-on in Firefox
The previous action launches a new window called “Select manifest.json file or .xpi/.zip archive.”
Use it to browse through your Windows computer or device to locate the folder where you saved the Ruffle Firefox extension. Once you’ve found it, select it and press the Open button.
Loading Ruffle Flash extension in Firefox
Firefox should then immediately install and activate Ruffle. If everything works correctly, you can see it on the Temporary Extensions list.
Ruffle has been installed in Firefox
Finally, try to visit a website with Flash content. Just like in our example below, Firefox should now be able to load Flash Player.
Firefox enabled Flash using Ruffle
That’s it! You’ve managed to enable Flash Player in Firefox.
IMPORTANT: In most cases, Ruffle is the answer to the “Firefox enable Flash” issue. However, don’t forget that Ruffle is in an early development stage, and it doesn’t yet support all types of Flash content.
Adobe Flash Player is gone. What happens if you visit a Flash website in Firefox?
If you try to open a Flash website in Firefox, this web browser doesn’t tell you anything about the fact that Flash has been discontinued. No Flash content is loaded, and no messages about it are shown. One doesn’t even know that Flash content should have been there. In the example below, there should have been a Flash game - instead, all we got was complete and total nothingness.How to enable Flash in Firefox
The best way to allow Flash Player in Firefox is to install and use a browser extension named Ruffle. As Ruffle is in development as we speak, it’s not yet available on the Firefox Browser Add-ons website, so you have to install and activate it manually. Use Firefox to go to Ruffle’s Releases webpage and download the latest Firefox / Edge / Safari browser extension. Don’t just click on the link - right-click or press-and-hold on it, then select “Save Link As…” from the contextual menu displayed.
Discussion (8)
I have the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary installed on my laptop and my desktop. Perhaps (surely) in ignorance, and following all the Adobe requests to do so, I deleted Adobe Flash from my laptop (not my desktop). Now my SOED does not work on my laptop. I queried this with OED and got no reply (surprise surprise). Will Ruffle get me over this problem? It seems to me that it is not an issue with my browser, it seems to be a requirement of the SOED software which wants to store information somewhere in Adobe Flash.
Why I still need Flash player: Upload of multiple files to a Buffalo LinkStation Media Server requires a Flash Player. However, the content is not yet supported by the Ruffle emulator.
Worked so well. Thanks alot
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Reason for continued use of Flash player. All NOAA weather websites maintained by the Federal Government (weather.gov) still use it when you select to loop the NEXRAD Radar displays on their sites.
Yes! I still use Firefox! It is friendly and useful. It has easy management.
It is not good to reject the old products.
Yes, I am still using flash for old flash games. And I want to be able play them from my local disc for the entire future. As well as I am still playing old DOS games (now in dosbox)
That’s an enjoyable hobby. 😉