Which browsers support the <embed> and <object> tags?

Question

I am working on a department website that needs to be standards compliant (xhtml 1.0 transitional), but embedded flash keeps breaking the validation. We use the <embed> tag because we need to support most major browsers.

We can't use external tools, since the site is managed through a system and the admins don't like us putting extra tools (like JavaScript libraries etc) that could interfere with their template engine.

How widely supported is the object tag? Is it safe to use only the <object> tag and remove the <embed> tag all together?

Answer 1

<embed> is invalid in XHTML 1.0 and HTML 4, but it’s valid in HTML5, so you could switch to the HTML5 doctype and be compliant with that standard instead.

As mentioned above, the Flash Satay article at A List Apart is a great explanation of how to get Flash working with just an <object> tag. It’s not so much which browsers support <object> (I think only Netscape 4 doesn’t), it’s more that the differences in how the browsers support Flash embedded with <object> screw everything up.

Definitely read the article. It’s got code you can use and everything. In short, <object> on its own works fine, unless you want a Flash movie to start playing before it’s fully downloaded. Then you need another Flash movie to act as a wrapper.