Its primary visual features are identical to those of the flag of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Its flag is described in article 84 of the constitution: The state flag of the Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic of Abkhazia consists of a red or scarlet cloth with an image in its upper corner near the shaft of a golden sickle and hammer and above them a red five-pointed star framed with a gold border, below which is the inscription: "ASSRA".

Its design was reconfirmed in the Regulations on the State Flag of the Abkhaz ASSR (approved on 31 March 1956) and, with changes, on 28 April 1971 and 3 November 1978.

On 21 July 1981, a decree approved new Regulations on the State Flag of the Abkhaz ASSR.

The regulations stipulated the size of the inscription: one line of separated letters, one-tenth of the flag's width.