Editing QuickTime (section)

== File formats ==<!-- This section is linked from [[Streaming media]] -->
{{Main|QuickTime File Format}}

The native [[file format]] for QuickTime video, [[QuickTime File Format]], specifies a [[Container format (digital)|multimedia container file]] that contains one or more tracks, each of which stores a particular type of data: audio, video, effects, or text (e.g. for subtitles). Each track either contains a digitally encoded media stream (using a specific format) or a data reference to the media stream located in another file. The ability to contain abstract data references for the media data, and the separation of the media data from the media offsets and the track edit lists means that QuickTime is particularly suited for editing, as it is capable of importing and editing in place (without data copying).

Other file formats that QuickTime supports natively (to varying degrees) include [[Audio Interchange File Format|AIFF]], [[WAV]], [[DV (video format)|DV-DIF]], [[MP3]], and [[MPEG program stream]]. With additional QuickTime Components, it can also support [[Advanced Systems Format|ASF]], [[DivX Media Format]], [[Flash Video]], [[Matroska]], [[Ogg]], and many others.

=== QuickTime and MPEG-4 ===
On February 11, 1998, the [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]] approved the QuickTime file format as the basis of the MPEG‑4 file format.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1998-02-11 |title=ISO ADOPTS QUICKTIME FILE FORMAT AS STARTING POINT FOR DEVELOPIN |website=[[Bloomberg News]] |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/1998-02-11/iso-adopts-quicktime-file-format-as-starting-point-for-developin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420210713/https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/1998-02-11/iso-adopts-quicktime-file-format-as-starting-point-for-developin |archive-date=April 20, 2022 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The MPEG-4 file format specification was created on the basis of the QuickTime format specification published in 2001.<ref>{{cite web
 | url = https://developer.apple.com/standards/classicquicktime.html
 | author = Apple Inc.
 | title = Classic Version of the QuickTime File Format Specification
 | year = 2001
 | access-date = June 14, 2009
}}</ref> The MP4 (<code>.mp4</code>) file format was published in 2001 as the revision of the MPEG-4 Part 1: Systems specification published in 1999 (ISO/IEC 14496-1:2001).<ref>{{cite web
 | url = http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/fdd/fdd000037.shtml
 | author = Library of Congress, US
 | title = MPEG-4 File Format, Version 1
 | year = 2001
 | access-date = June 14, 2009
}}</ref>{{ref RFC|4337}}<ref>{{cite web
 | url = http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_ics/catalogue_detail_ics.htm?csnumber=34903
 | author = International Organization for Standardization
 | title = MPEG-4 Part 1: Systems; ISO/IEC 14496-1:2001
 | year = 2001
 | access-date = June 11, 2009
}}</ref> In 2003, the first version of MP4 format was revised and replaced by [[MPEG-4 Part 14]]: MP4 file format (ISO/IEC 14496-14:2003).<ref>{{cite web
 | url = http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=38538
 | author = International Organization for Standardization
 | title = MPEG-4 Part 14: MP4 file format; ISO/IEC 14496-14:2003
 | year = 2003
 | access-date = June 11, 2009
}}</ref> The MP4 file format was generalized into the [[ISO base media file format|ISO Base Media File Format]] ISO/IEC 14496-12:2004, which defines a general structure for time-based media files. It in turn is used as the basis for other multimedia file formats (for example [[3GP]], [[MJ2|Motion JPEG 2000]]).<ref>
{{cite web
 | url = http://www.mp4ra.org/specs.html
 | publisher = MP4REG&nbsp;– MP4 Registration authority
 | title = References, MPEG-4 Registration authority
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120808112056/http://www.mp4ra.org/specs.html
 | archive-date = August 8, 2012
 | url-status = dead
 | df = mdy-all
 }}
</ref><ref>{{cite tech report
  | author = International Organization for Standardization
  | title =  ISO Base Media File Format white paper&nbsp;– Proposal
  | publisher = MPEG
  | date = April 2006
  | url = http://www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/technologies/mp04-ff/index.htm
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080714101745/http://www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/technologies/mp04-ff/index.htm 
  | archive-date = July 14, 2008
  | author-link = International Organization for Standardization
  | url-status = dead}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite tech report
  | author = International Organization for Standardization
  | title =  ISO Base Media File Format white paper&nbsp;– Proposal
  | publisher = MPEG
  | date = October 2009
  | url = http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/technologies/mpeg-4/mp04-ff/index.htm
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101019201035/http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/technologies/mpeg-4/mp04-ff/index.htm
  | archive-date = October 19, 2010
  | author-link = International Organization for Standardization
  | url-status = dead}}</ref>
<ref name="mpeg4part12-mp4">{{cite tech report
  | author = International Organization for Standardization
  | title = ISO/IEC 14496-12:2008, Information technology&nbsp;– Coding of audio-visual objects&nbsp;– Part 12: ISO base media file format
  | publisher = International Organization for Standardization
  | year = 2008
  | url = http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/c051533_ISO_IEC_14496-12_2008.zip
  | format = PDF
  | pages = 88, 94
  | access-date = May 30, 2009
  | author-link = International Organization for Standardization }}{{dead link|date=January 2025}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite web
 | url = http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=38539
 | author = International Organization for Standardization
 | title = MPEG-4 Part 12: ISO base media file format; ISO/IEC 14496-12:2004
 | year = 2004
 | access-date = June 11, 2009 }}</ref> A list of all registered extensions for ISO Base Media File Format is published on the official registration authority website [http://www.mp4ra.org www.mp4ra.org]. This registration authority for code-points in "MP4 Family" files is Apple Computer Inc. and it is named in Annex D (informative) in MPEG-4 Part 12.<ref name="mpeg4part12-mp4" />

By 2000, MPEG-4 formats became industry standards, first appearing with support in QuickTime 6 in 2002.  Accordingly, the MPEG-4 container is designed to capture, edit, [[archive]], and [[distribution (business)|distribute]] media, unlike the simple file-as-stream approach of MPEG-1 and [[MPEG-2]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Apple&nbsp;– QuickTime&nbsp;– Technologies&nbsp;– MPEG-4 | url=https://www.apple.com/quicktime/technologies/mpeg4/ | access-date=January 16, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070111065647/http://www.apple.com/quicktime/technologies/mpeg4/ |archive-date = January 11, 2007}}</ref>

==== Profile support ====
QuickTime 6 added limited support for MPEG-4, specifically encoding and decoding using Simple Profile (SP). Advanced Simple Profile (ASP) features, like [[Video compression picture types|B-frames]], were unsupported (in contrast with, for example, encoders such as [[Xvid|XviD]] or [[3ivx]]). QuickTime 7 supports the H.264 encoder and decoder.<ref>{{cite web | title=QuickTime for Windows 7.0 Help | url=http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=QuickTime+Player+Win/7.0/en/wn.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080127104402/http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=QuickTime+Player+Win/7.0/en/wn.html | archive-date=January 27, 2008 | url-status=dead}}</ref>

==== Container benefits ====
Because both MOV and MP4 containers can use the same MPEG-4 codecs, they are mostly interchangeable in a QuickTime-only environment. MP4, being an international standard, has more support. This is especially true on hardware devices, such as the [[Sony PSP]] and various DVD players, on the software side, most [[DirectShow]] / [[Video for Windows]] codec packs<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hellninjacommando.com/defilerpak/ |title=DefilerPak - A lightweight codec pack for Windows PCs |access-date=August 15, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150815154602/http://hellninjacommando.com/defilerpak/ |archive-date=August 15, 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.k-litecodecpack.com|archive-url=https://archive.today/20031031022301/http://www.k-litecodecpack.com/|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 31, 2003|title=www.k-litecodecpack.com|access-date=August 15, 2015}}</ref> include a MP4 parser, but not one for MOV.

In QuickTime Pro's MPEG-4 Export dialog, an option called "Passthrough" allows a clean export to MP4 without affecting the audio or video streams. QuickTime 7 now supports [[surround sound|multichannel]] AAC-LC and HE-AAC audio (used, for example, in the high-definition trailers on Apple's site),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://apple.com/trailers|title=iTunes Movie Trailers|access-date=August 15, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100213200700/http://www.apple.com//trailers//|archive-date=February 13, 2010|df=mdy-all}}</ref> for both .MOV and .MP4 containers.