Google Integrates Adobe Flash Into Chrome

Martin Brinkmann
Mar 30, 2010
Updated • Jul 28, 2016
Google Chrome
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One of the first things that many users do after installing a web browser is to install Adobe Flash as it is needed to display many websites and most of the hosted video sites on the Internet.

Google Chrome developers have decided to include the Adobe Flash Player plugin into the latest dev version of the web browser "so that [users] don't have to install it or worry about keeping it up-to-date".

Update: Flash is integrated in Google Chrome natively. Users don't need to enable it with a parameter anymore. Google calls it Pepper Flash to distinguish it from the classic NPAPI plugin version of Adobe Flash.

The Flash player plugin needs to be enabled with the startup parameters --enable-internal-flash and Google has announced plans to bring that functionality to all Google Chrome users as soon as possible.

Google Integrates Adobe Flash Into Chrome

adobe flash chrome

What's the benefit of integrating Adobe Flash into Google Chrome? The main advantage is that Flash is now integrated with the Google Chrome auto-update mechanism. This means that Google can push out Flash updates to all Chrome users using the update mechanics of Chrome.

This in turn reduces the time between updates of Flash on the system, and therefore also the period in which user systems are vulnerable to attacks.

But this also means that Flash is integrated in the Chrome browser and it is likely that the devs at one point will activate it automatically for all users.

This adds weight to the web browser, especially for users who prefer not to install Adobe Flash. On the other hand, it may mean that Chrome users are left with an insecure version of Flash if Adobe or Google don't put out patches quickly.

Considering that you cannot update the internal Flash version of Chrome manually, you have to wait for Google to release an update to patch the vulnerability.

The latest dev version of Google Chrome includes a basic plugin manager as well that can be used to disable plugins from loading on all websites.

Simply load chrome://plugins in the browser's address bar to display all loaded plugins and their state.

There are still a few bugs to be sorted out:

On Windows, if you have Adobe Flash Player for Windows Firefox, Safari, or Opera installed, the Flash plug-in will still work in some cases even if you decline the license agreement (when using --enable-internal-flash) or disable the Flash plugin from about:plugins. We're working on it.
If you disable (or enable) a plugin on about:plugins, your change does not take effect until you restart Google Chrome.
There is no bundled Adobe Flash Player plug-in for 64-bit Linux.

The latest dev version of Google Chrome can be downloaded from the Getting Involved page over at the Chromium project.

Summary
Google Integrates Adobe Flash Into Chrome
Article Name
Google Integrates Adobe Flash Into Chrome
Description
Google started to integrate a special version of Adobe Flash, called Pepper Flash, in the company's Chrome web browser natively.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. sara said on October 19, 2012 at 3:00 am
    Reply

    Why do you talk so much and say nothing? I was lead to your page to uninstall flash because of the problems with shockwave. You begin to mention it then go off into your private techie world and leave me with no answer.

  2. kalkulator said on October 5, 2011 at 8:30 pm
    Reply

    I hate abobe and will not ever install any part of it again on my computer!

  3. 47ld520 said on February 26, 2011 at 4:54 am
    Reply

    Well if you think about it… it makes a lot of sense. They needed a flash player and adobe’s probably the most well known in existance. So naturally they would partner up with them. I can’t say wether it’s truly a good decision but it’s certainly a logical one.

  4. Kredyt said on November 21, 2010 at 6:23 am
    Reply

    Chrome is all I use but it still lucks many useful features already possessed by firefox

  5. Kodak Playtouch said on September 5, 2010 at 5:08 pm
    Reply

    I love Adobe but I don’t know if this was the best move for them. I mean, being incorporated into anything Google will improve your business, but will it be at the expense of the software?

  6. Kodak Playsport said on April 1, 2010 at 7:13 am
    Reply

    Ah…i dont think they gone..be part of Adobe software updates…

  7. Curious said on April 1, 2010 at 7:12 am
    Reply

    Will Google also be responsible for updating Adobe’s Flash? Flash is notorious for monthly vulnerabilities. I hope Iron doesn’t follow suit…

  8. Matthew Fabb said on March 31, 2010 at 2:34 pm
    Reply

    HNicolai, note there is a 64-bit version of Flash Player for Linux, it’s just it’s still in alpha, so I guess Google has decided not to bundle it yet:
    http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/64bit.html

  9. GiddyUpGo said on March 31, 2010 at 3:31 am
    Reply

    Do you ever feel like you are drowning in a lake? When you get to liking a browser and they do this.
    I also hate abobe and will not ever install any part of it again on my computer!

    1. Annie said on December 2, 2013 at 10:23 pm
      Reply

      I agree with Giddy Up, Adobe is a “P.I.T.A” and causes too many headaches to make it worth installing. These boys need to wake up and smell the coffee and figure out a better way to do business.

  10. HNicolai said on March 31, 2010 at 12:23 am
    Reply

    “There is no bundled Adobe Flash Player plug-in for 64-bit Linux.”

    /me hate adobe :(

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