Adobe has released a beta of Moviestar, an update to its Flash Player 9 software.

The new version adds support for the H.264 video codec, also known as Mpeg4 part 10, as well as the HE-AAC audio codec.

The update also introduces support for multi-core processors as well as a full screen movie mode with hardware scaling and a cache for platform components such as the Flex network.

Flash is a popular format for streaming videos and is supported by most popular video sharing services including YouTube and Yahoo Video.

The addition of h.264 support allows for better video compression, which is expected to enable high-definition videos to be streamed over the web.

The codec is already supported in slew of applications, ranging from video services for mobile phones to the HD-DVD and Blu-ray high definition DVD standards.

The Moviestar beta will be available later today from Adobe Labs.