Flash 8 Cookbook

Chapter 17. Working with Sound

Sound is an integral part of many Flash movies, and working with sound effectively is an important skill for Flash developers. In this chapter are recipes covering all aspects of working with sound in Flash.

17.1. Importing Sounds

Problem

You want to import a sound file into your Flash document.

Solution

Use the File → Import → Import to Library feature to import the sound to the document’s library.

Discussion

You can import a variety of sound formats into Flash. Exactly which formats you can import depends on factors such as your operating system and whether you have QuickTime (Version 4 or higher) installed on your computer. Table 17-1 lists a matrix that shows you what kinds of formats you can import.

Table 17-1. Sound formats for importing

	Macintosh	Windows	Macintosh with QuickTime	Windows with QuickTime
WAV	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
AIFF	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
MP3	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sound Designer II	No	No	Yes	No
QuickTime movie (sound only)	No	No	Yes	Yes
Sun AU	No	No	Yes	Yes
System 7 sounds	No	No	Yes	No

You can use any sound in an importable format. For example, you might have purchased a CD-ROM with a library of sounds. Assuming that those sound files are in an importable format, you can use those. Or perhaps you want to create your own sounds—not only for sound effects, but also for voice-overs. Almost all sound recording/editing programs allow you to export or save the sound in one of the formats that Flash can import. ...