Explain MOV video format and Quicktime video player
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What`s MOV file format
The one who often use Quicktime video player should be quite familiar with MOV video format. MOV is a file format extension developed by Apple for its QuickTime environment which can be used both in a Mac or Windows PC.
QuickTime’s MOV file is not a codec format like MPEG4, it is a container video file format that can contain a number of both video codec file and audio codecs.
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Unlike other popular container file formats like AVI, 3GP, the MOV container format supports the most number of video and audio codecs through its internal codec and sound manager core engines.
| Audio | Video |
| • Apple Lossless | • 3GPP & 3GPP2 file formats |
| • AIFF/Audio Interchange File Format | • AVI file format |
| • MIDI | • BMP or Bitmap codec |
| • MP3 or MPEG-1 Layer 3 Audio | • DV file ( NTSC/PAL ) |
| • AAC/Audio(.m4a, .m4b, .m4p) | • Flash & FlashPix files |
| • QCELP or Qualcomm PureVoice | • Animated GIF files |
| • AU Audio from SUN | • H.261, H.263 and H.264 codecs |
| • ULAW and ALAW Audio | • JPEG, Photo JPEG, and JPEG-2000 |
| • WAV or Waveform Audio | • MPEG-1/2/4/AVC |
| • Core Audio Format | • Quartz Composer (Mac only) |
| • AMR Narrowband | • Apple Video/Cinepak/Component Video/Graphics/Planar RGB |
QuickTime(freeware) player application always works with dv, avi, mpeg-2 and its default file format MOV etc, AVCHD(mts, m2ts, trp, ts, tp) etc video from Canon, Panasonic, JVC, Sony etc can not be natively accepted by Quicktime, but never mind, AVCHD video converter for Mac can help you convert and import AVCHD files to mov.Quicktime, mts to mov, m2ts to mov etc easily with just three simple steps on Mac.
Tips: Go to Windows version.
Advantages of MOV file container
MOV file container sets itself apart with its simple design, its easy editing, its popularity and its ability to mesh with other media.
Tips: In 1998, ISO approved the MOV file format to form the basis of the MPEG-4 Part 14 (.mp4) file container standard, it first appearing in 2002 with QuickTime version 6, the MPEG-4 container can capture and edit(unlike in earlier MPEG iterations)
When using the QuickTime platform, MOV files can support multichannel audio while MP4 files can only be played in stereo.
QuickTime is integral to the MAC operating platform and is optional in the Windows platform, however, increasingly more Windows applications are using QuickTime to display audio and video information.
Compare with .avi, .mov has better support for interleaving extra audio/video/subtitle tracks, has more file types and are more compatable in pro use --QT is still king (queen) along with a few other types (MAC OR PC) and AVI, Divx would be not.
Short history of the MOV file format
On December of 1991, Apple released the first commercial QuickTime platform and its associated MOV file format for the Mac system 6 operating system.
In 1992, Apple released QuickTime 1.5 for Mac OS(first run 30 frames per second at a resolution of 320 x 240) and port QuickTime to the Windows platform. Version 1.0.
In 1993, QuickTime 1.6.x came out;
In 1994, Apple released QuickTime 2.0;
In 1997, QuickTime 2.5 came out;
In 1998, QuickTime 3.0 came out,
In 1999, QuickTime 4.0 came out;
In 2001, QuickTime 5.0 came out;
In 2002, QuickTime 6.0 came out;
In 2005, QuickTime 7.0 came out;
In 2009, QuickTime XP came out.
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