Which browser has the best performance for Flash Player / Flash Content?

Question

Which Browser has the best performance for Adobe Flash Player?It sounds like a simple enough question, but the mechanics behind it are proving quite difficult to get one definitive answer. First of all we have to establish how we measure the performance.For me, it's a case of which browser can deliver flash content at a smooth, steady frame rate with no dips. In my findings I have found many factors come into play. For example some broswer seem to work better with certain rigs, and vice versa. Certain sites seem to deliver flash content in a more favourable manor to certain browsers too. Often times the other content and code on a page can effect the performance depending on the particular browser. So I'm here to ask those more experienced than me, which browser tends to perform best for Flash across a wider spectrum of computer specs?I have been working as a technician for a local PC support company ( http://www.pcrepairfix.co.uk ) and we have been giving supprot to a design company who have been running into a few problems regarding their flash content on their site. For this reason I need to stress test the content across all browsers and a variety of specs to try and pinpoint the issue where available, and then recommend to them the best course of action going forward, which may be streamlining their development testing and computer configuration.They are giving reports of random error messages, FPS dips and a variety of other little niggling issues that are proving difficult to replicate and as such I am looking to primarily find the ideal broswer for Flash development testing, content creation and ultimately user viewing.Any input ont his matter would be greatly apprecaited,Kind Regards,Ro JestSupport TechnicianPC Repair Fixhttp://www.pcrepairfix.co.uk

C_F_McBlob · Answer

That's a loaded question, and you'll get ten different answers from ten different people. Here's my $0.02
As a web designer, I have to have (or did anyway) every browser that a potential viewer would use, for testing purposes. I say "did" because after some 'auto-launching' on reboot issues with Google Chrome, I'll NEVER have that garbage on ANY system I ever own, again. Chrome has its own Flash Player built in, but it's VERY processor consumptive, launching new processes for each new tab and plugin that you have running. Terrible for performance unless you have a $5,000-$10,000 gaming "super computer" with 8 cores and 64Gb of RAM.
IE uses ActiveX controls which cause more problems and create more securioty "holes" than they could ever make up for with performance. I don't recommend ANYONE who has a choice should ever use IE.

Firefox has been my browser of choice since 2002, and I've had limited troubles with it, and they were always resolvable with either some "tweaking" or a reinstall.

Opera has always been reliable too, though I don't use it as much as Firefox.

I use Safari for a lot of testing on my Mac, and I have it on my PCs as well. It performs as well as Firefox for Flash content, but I have issues with the way it handles chat and message boards, flashing all the time when the page refreshes. I think it could induce seizures in some people. It'd be really annoying in a cam chat.

As far as Flash content on websites goes... Unless they have Shockwave Flash games which REQUIRE Flash, they'd be better off learning to convert their video content to HTML5, so it not only works even if someosn doesn't have Flash, but cellphone traffic won't be left out of their content. As many web viewers as there are using cellphones (Android and iOS), the less Flash the better for universal content access.

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