An SWC file is a package of precompiled

Flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * The Flash, several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Barry Allen ** Wally West, the first Kid Flash and third adult Flash ...

symbols and

ActionScript ActionScript is an object-oriented programming language originally developed by Macromedia Inc. (later acquired by Adobe). It is influenced by HyperTalk, the scripting language for HyperCard. It is now an implementation of ECMAScript (mean ...

code In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communicati ...

that allows a Flash or Flex developer to distribute classes and assets, or to avoid recompiling symbols and code that will not change.AdvancED Game Design with Flash
Apress, 01-Sep-2010
Adobe LiveDocs. SWC files can be generated by the Adobe Flash Professional authoring tool, and by Flash Builder (or its companion compiler MXMLC).Flash CS3 For Dummies
John Wiley & Sons, 13-Aug-2007 They are sometimes referred to as class

libraries A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

and cannot be directly executed by the

Flash Player Adobe Flash Player (known in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome as Shockwave Flash) is a discontinuedExcept in China, where it continues to be used, as well as Harman for enterprise users. computer program for viewing multimedia c ...

. SWC code libraries are typically included in an ActionScript 3 project, and compiled into the final SWF file alongside the developer's program, by the ActionScript 3 compiler. Only the classes that have been used by the project (and their dependencies) are transferred into the resulting SWF file.

Format

A SWC file is compressed by means of the ZIP archive format.Flash Builder and Flash Catalyst: The New Workflow
Apress, 20-May-2010 Renaming the extension of a SWC file to "zip" will allow any ZIP-compatible decompression software to show the contents of the file. An uncompressed SWC file contains at least a catalog.xml file, and a SWF file, usually named "library.swf". It may also contain other files, such as CSS files. The catalog contains a list of the ActionScript classes contained in the library, their dependencies, and modification dates.

Example catalog.xml

This is a simple example of a catalog.xml for a SWC created in Flash CS4 which contains two sounds.

References

{{Adobe Flash Adobe Flash