Behind the scenes of Interactive PDFs created from InDesign...

[JamieMcKee]

I'm trying to figure out what goes on behind the scenes when one creates an Interactive PDF from InDesign 2021. For instance, the following was true when creating Interactive PDFs from CS5:

"When you export an interactive PDF from InDesign CS5, included media is written to the Rich Media Annotation Layer, which means the content is played back via the embedded Flash Player within Acrobat Pro 9 or Adobe Reader 9 or higher."

Now that Flash is dead and can't be played back in Acrobat Pro DC, I'm assuming rich media is no longer played back with the Flash Player, as there is no embedded Flash Player. So what is Acrobat Pro DC using to play back rich media now? Is Rich Media still written to the Rich Media Annotation Layer of the PDF when InDesign exports using Interactive PDF?

[Amal.]

Hi JamieMcKee

Hope you are doing well and sorry for the trouble. As described, what is Acrobat Pro DC using to play back rich media after the EOL of flash player?

You can play the following types of multimedia in PDFs created using Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader or earlier. Videovincludes MOV, M4V, 3GP, and 3G2 video files that use H.264 compression. It also includes MP3, and MP4 files. You must have H.264 codecs installed on your computer to play files that use H.264 compression.

Media files in other formats can be played back in earlier versions of Adobe Reader. However, users must install the appropriate application (such as QuickTime or Windows Media Player) to play the multimedia.

For more information, please check the help pages listed below:

- https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/playing-video-audio-multimedia-formats.html

- https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/rich-media.html

Hope it will help

Regards

Amal

[JamieMcKee]

Thank you for your reply Amal. Please know I'm not having any trouble with any PDFs. Just looking for information.

I'm not concerned with what rich media Interactive PDFs can utilize. I'm just wondering what Acrobat Pro DC is using to play the rich media with PDFs created using the Adobe PDF (Interactive) export option from InDesign 2021? Previously, at one time, Acrobat used an embedded Flash player for the purpose. That can no longer be the case, as Flash is EOL'd and PDFs containing Flash no longer play. So what change was made to Acrobat to allow rich media to be played? Flash was removed, what was put in its place? That's what I'm looking for...

[JR Boulay]

You need Acrobat Pro DC, or InDesign, version 2021 to create interactive PDFs that can be played without the Flash Player.

An interactive PDF created with InDesifn CS5 could no longer be played, even in a previous version of Acrobat, since it requires the Flash Player.