Adobe Shockwave is an outmoded name for the Adobe Flash player and authoring software. Before being purchased by Adobe, it was designed and distributed primarily by Macromedia.

Adobe Shockwave is used primarily as a multimedia platform. Shockwave Flash files, which are abbreviated as "SWF" files, contain audio and graphical assets in addition to a custom system of instructional scripts for the player software to follow. The player uses this information to draw dynamic animations using vector graphics. These work by performing an intensive mathematical calculation that generates a precise line or shape. Because these lines and shapes are generated by real-time computations, they can be scaled to any required size. This differs from raster graphics, which are drawn at one native resolution and tend to lose quality or detail when resized. Shockwave Flash files' vector-based nature makes them an exceptional choice for high-resolution displays. In addition, because their animation is math-based rather than frame-based, movement is extremely smooth. This process of interpolation is known as "motion tweening". The term's name comes from the term "in-between".

In addition to its graphical capabilities, Shockwave Flash is capable of processing audio and various forms of input. Uncompressed audio formats such as WAV, PCM and AIFF can be utilized. This is in addition to compressed formats such as MP3, OGG and FLAC. SWF files can read user interactions such as keystrokes, mouse movements, button presses, joystick actions and even microphone and webcam feeds. This information is fed to the built-in "actionscript" which dictates how the SWF file will behave in response.

Shockwave Flash files are used heavily for streaming video and audio over the Internet. This process became famous when it was utilized by the video community site "YouTube", which is owned by Google. Its use of Shockwave Flash allows a wide variety of users to access videos without installing a custom player or codecs onto their computer. It also permits some smart phones and tablets to play these videos.

Shockwave Flash is now known as Adobe Flash. The current latest versions are in the 11.x series.