Questions about file compression using SFW?

Hi there Flash community…

You probably have the answer. I am building a portfolio for my Flash/HTML site. Rather than load large jpgs traditionally I want to use a flash file.

Is it true that SWF files compress images and process images faster using Flash on some ones machine than traditionally allowing the browser to cache a file and display it?

Is it considerably faster?

With answer, thanks for your input.

Flash will compress a 24 bit png with alpha a lot smaller than it would normally be, but won’t compress a jpeg or 8 bit png more than it already is.

Great bro,

Thanks for the clarity.