How to enable FLV file playback in IIS 6

Problem: This one crops up every-so-often, and a colleague just asked me again, so it’s probably worth posting. When an FLV is loaded into a Flash app, the FLV file is ‘played’ when the SWF or Projector is run. When this is done locally – i.e. you run an SWF from your hard drive, or file server – it’ll work fine. The problem comes when you upload it to your IIS web server. The server probably won’t recognise the ‘.flv’ filetype, so it’ll display nothing.

Solution: To make your IIS 6 web server aware of FLV files, do the following:

  • Open ‘IIS Manager’.
  • Right click on your site in ‘Web Sites’, and select ‘Properties’.
  • Choose the ‘HTTP Headers’ tab.
  • Click the ‘MIME Types…’  button on the bottom-right.
  • Click ‘New…’ and then add ‘.flv’ and ‘video/x-flv’ as shown below:
Setting FLV Mime type in IIS site properties
Setting FLV Mime type in IIS site properties
  • ‘Ok’ your way out, and ‘Apply’ when needed.
  • Your video should now play in a browser when embed in an SWF.
Note: You might have to stop and start ISS, but I didn’t when I added the Mime type a few hours ago.
Questions? Please leave a comment…

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