QuickTime

File Format
Name	QuickTime
Ontology	Electronic File Formats Video QuickTime
Extension(s)	.mov
MIME Type(s)	video/quicktime
PRONOM	x-fmt/384
Wikidata ID	Q942350

"MOV" redirects here. For another MOV format, see Electronic Arts MOV. For movie formats in general, see Video.

QuickTime is a container format developed by Apple Computer, Inc. It is usually used to wrap video content, but can also be used to wrap sound and still image data.

The QuickTime format was used as the basis for the international standard MPEG-4 format.

A now-deprecated related format for still images taken from a QuickTime video is QTIF.

History

QuickTime was originally released in 1991 following years of internal development. QuickTime exists in 7 minor format releases from 1991 (1.x) through 2016 (7.x). A major upgrade to the platform occurred in 2009 with QuickTime X. The current version of classic QuickTime is 7.7.9 as of 2016. QuickTime X is At version 10.5

Format

See boxes/atoms format. Starting in 2004, the QuickTime movie file specification has been based on ISO Base Media File Format, with a brand of "qt  ".

Quicktime VR

In the past, the Quicktime format has been used as a container for so called Virtual Reality (or rather, 360 degree panorama) data. Not clear how to identify. File extensions usually just .mov, but may be .qt or more specifically .qvr (possibly .qtvr?).

• Getting started with QuickTime VR - tutorial from February, 1996.]
  • Mentions "creator/file type of the downloaded movie to QuickTime VR’s 'vrod'/'MooV'", which may be the type?
  • ffprobe shows "Stream #0:1(eng): Data: none (pano / 0x6F6E6170), 0 kb/s", so I presume 'pano' is the ftyp/FourCC?
  • "The media type of the panorama track is 'pano'." from Quicktime file format specification, page 289.
• Example Quicktime VR files

Specifications

• QuickTime File Format Specification (classic, 2001)
• QuickTime File Format Specification (current version)

Metaformat files

• Synalysis grammar file (for Hexinator / Synalize It!; more details)

Software

• Konvertor
• QuickTime 2.1.2 for Windows (c. 1997)
• Current QuickTime download
• FFmpeg

Sample files

• Apple's sample QuickTime files in several encodings
• https://telparia.com/fileFormatSamples/video/mov/
• http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/mov/

See also

• Boxes/atoms format
• ISO Base Media File Format
• MPEG-4
• PICT
• QTIF
• QuickTime Animation

Links and references

• Official site
• QuickTime : Wikipedia
• QuickTime File Format Summary, from the Encyclopedia of Graphics File Formats
• Even comic-strip people can have trouble getting those things to play...