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QuickTime (or QuickTime Player, referred to officially as QuickTime X in Mac OS X Snow Leopard) is an extensible multimedia architecture created by Apple, which supports playing, streaming, encoding, and transcoding a variety of digital media formats.[1][2] The term QuickTime also refers to the QuickTime Player front-end media player application,[1] which is built-into macOS, and was formerly available for Windows.[3]

QuickTime was created in 1991, when the concept of playing digital video directly on computers was "groundbreaking."[1][2] QuickTime could embed a number of advanced media types, including panoramic images (called QuickTime VR) and Adobe Flash. Over the 1990s, QuickTime became a dominant standard for digital multimedia, as it was integrated into many websites, applications, and video games, and adopted by professional filmmakers. The QuickTime File Format became the basis for the MPEG-4 standard.[4][5][1][2][6] During its heyday, QuickTime was notably used to create the innovative Myst and Xplora1 video games, and to exclusively distribute movie trailers for several Star Wars movies.[7][1] QuickTime could support additional codecs through plug-ins, for example with Perian.[8]

As operating systems and browsers gained support for MPEG-4 and subsequent standards like H.264, the need for a cross-platform version of QuickTime diminished, and Apple discontinued the Windows version of QuickTime in 2016.[9][10][11][12] In Mac OS X Snow Leopard, QuickTime 7 was discontinued in favor of QuickTime Player X, which abandoned the aging QuickTime framework in favor of the AVFoundation framework. QuickTime Player X does not support video editing (beyond trimming clips) or plug-ins for additional codec support.[12][13] macOS Catalina dropped support for all 32-bit applications, including the QTKit framework and the old QuickTime 7.[10]

Overview

[edit]

QuickTime is bundled with macOS. QuickTime for Microsoft Windows was downloadable as a standalone installation, and was bundled with Apple's iTunes before iTunes 10.5, but is no longer supported and therefore security vulnerabilities will no longer be patched.[14] Already, at the time of the Windows version's discontinuation, two such zero-day vulnerabilities (both of which permitted arbitrary code execution) were identified and publicly disclosed by Trend Micro; consequently, Trend Micro strongly advised users to uninstall the product from Windows systems.[15][16]

Software development kits (SDK) for QuickTime are available to the public with an Apple Developer Connection (ADC) subscription.

It is available free of charge for both macOS operating systems. There are some other free player applications that rely on the QuickTime framework, providing features not available in the basic QuickTime Player. For example, iTunes can export audio in WAV, AIFF, MP3, AAC, and Apple Lossless. In addition, macOS has a simple AppleScript that can be used to play a movie in full-screen mode,[17] but since version 7.2 full-screen viewing is now supported in the non-Pro version.[18]

QuickTime framework

[edit]

The QuickTime framework provides the following:

  • Encoding and transcoding video and audio from one format to another. Command-line utilities afconvert (to convert audio formats), avconvert (to convert video formats) and qtmodernizer (to automatically convert older formats to H.264/AAC) are provided with macOS for power users.
  • Decoding video and audio, then sending the decoded stream to the graphics or audio subsystem for playback. In macOS, QuickTime sends video playback to the Quartz Extreme (OpenGL) Compositor.[19]
  • A "component" plug-in architecture for supporting additional 3rd-party codecs (such as DivX).

As of early 2008, the framework hides many older codecs listed below from the user although the option to "Show legacy encoders" exists in QuickTime Preferences to use them.[20] The framework supports the following file types and codecs natively:[21]

Audio Video Picture

Due to macOS Mojave being the last version to include support for 32-bit APIs and Apple's plans to drop 32-bit application support in future macOS releases, many codecs will no longer be supported in newer macOS releases, starting with macOS Catalina, which was released on October 7, 2019.

As of Mac OS X Lion, the underlying media framework for QuickTime, QTKit, was deprecated in favor of a newer graphics framework, AVFoundation, and completely discontinued as of macOS Catalina.[9]

Windows

[edit]

PictureViewer is a component of QuickTime for Microsoft Windows and the Mac OS 8 and Mac OS 9 operating systems. It is used to view picture files from the still image formats that QuickTime supports. In macOS, it is replaced by Preview.[23][24]

Irix

[edit]

A version of QuickTime for the Irix operating system running on SGI hardware with MIPS processors was developed in the mid-1990s but never released.

QuickTime Player

[edit]

QuickTime 7 Pro

[edit]

QuickTime Player 7 is limited to only basic playback operations unless a QuickTime Pro license key is purchased from Apple. Until Catalina, Apple's professional applications (e.g. Final Cut Studio, Logic Studio) included a QuickTime Pro license. Pro keys are specific to the major version of QuickTime for which they are purchased and unlock additional features of the QuickTime Player application on macOS or Windows.[25] The Pro key does not require any additional downloads; entering the registration code immediately unlocks the hidden features.

QuickTime 7 is still available for download from Apple, but as of mid-2016, Apple stopped selling registration keys for the Pro version.

Features enabled by the Pro license include, but are not limited to:

  • Editing clips through the cut, copy and paste functions, merging separate audio and video tracks, and freely placing the video tracks on a virtual canvas with the options of cropping and rotation.
  • Saving and exporting (encoding) to any of the codecs supported by QuickTime. QuickTime 7 includes presets for exporting video to a video-capable iPod, Apple TV, and the iPhone.
  • Saving existing QuickTime movies from the web directly to a hard disk drive. This is often, but not always, either hidden or intentionally blocked in the standard mode. Two options exist for saving movies from a web browser:
    • Save as source – This option will save the embedded video in its original format. (I.e. not limited to .mov files.)
    • Save as QuickTime movie – This option will save the embedded video in a .mov file format no matter what the original container is/was.

QuickTime Player X

[edit]
QuickTime Player
DeveloperApple Inc.
Initial releaseDecember 2, 1991; 33 years ago (1991-12-02)
Stable release
10.5 (updated as part of macOS, with only build number increments)
Operating systemmacOS
Discontinued: Windows, Classic Mac OS
Websitesupport.apple.com/quicktime

Mac OS X Snow Leopard includes QuickTime X. QuickTime Player X lacks cut, copy and paste and will only export to four formats, but its limited export feature is free. Users do not have an option to upgrade to a Pro version of QuickTime X, but those who have already purchased QuickTime 7 Pro and are upgrading to Snow Leopard from a previous version of Mac OS X will have QuickTime 7 stored in the Utilities or user defined folder. Otherwise, users will have to install QuickTime 7 from the "Optional Installs" directory of the Snow Leopard DVD after installing the OS.

Mac OS X Lion and later also include QuickTime X. No installer for QuickTime 7 is included with these software packages, but users can download the QuickTime 7 installer from the Apple support site. QuickTime X on later versions of macOS support cut, copy and paste functions similarly to the way QuickTime 7 Pro did; the interface has been significantly modified to simplify these operations, however.

On September 24, 2018, Apple ended support for QuickTime 7 and QuickTime Pro, and updated many download and support pages on their website to state that QuickTime 7 "will not be compatible with future macOS releases."

File formats

[edit]
Main article: QuickTime File Format

The native file format for QuickTime video, QuickTime File Format, specifies a 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 AIFF, WAV, DV-DIF, MP3, and MPEG program stream. With additional QuickTime Components, it can also support ASF, DivX Media Format, Flash Video, Matroska, Ogg, and many others.

QuickTime and MPEG-4

[edit]

On February 11, 1998, the ISO approved the QuickTime file format as the basis of the MPEG‑4 file format.[26] The MPEG-4 file format specification was created on the basis of the QuickTime format specification published in 2001.[27] The MP4 (.mp4) 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).[28][29][30] 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).[31] The MP4 file format was generalized into the 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, Motion JPEG 2000).[32][33] [34] [35] [36] A list of all registered extensions for ISO Base Media File Format is published on the official registration authority website 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.[35]

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 distribute media, unlike the simple file-as-stream approach of MPEG-1 and MPEG-2.[37]

Profile support

[edit]

QuickTime 6 added limited support for MPEG-4, specifically encoding and decoding using Simple Profile (SP). Advanced Simple Profile (ASP) features, like B-frames, were unsupported (in contrast with, for example, encoders such as XviD or 3ivx). QuickTime 7 supports the H.264 encoder and decoder.[38]

Container benefits

[edit]

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[39][40] 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 multichannel AAC-LC and HE-AAC audio (used, for example, in the high-definition trailers on Apple's site),[41] for both .MOV and .MP4 containers.

History

[edit]

Apple released the first version of QuickTime on December 2, 1991, as a multimedia add-on for System 6 and later. The lead developer of QuickTime, Bruce Leak, ran the first public demonstration at the May 1991 Worldwide Developers Conference, where he played Apple's famous 1984 advertisement in a window at 320×240 pixels resolution.

QuickTime 1.x

[edit]

The original video codecs included:

The first commercial project produced using QuickTime 1.0 was the CD-ROM From Alice to Ocean. The first publicly visible use of QuickTime was Ben & Jerry's interactive factory tour (dubbed The Rik & Joe Show after its in-house developers). The Rik and Joe Show was demonstrated onstage at MacWorld in San Francisco when John Sculley announced QuickTime.[43]

Apple released QuickTime 1.5 for Mac OS in the latter part of 1992. This added the SuperMac-developed Cinepak vector-quantization video codec (initially known as Compact Video). It could play video at 320×240 resolution at 30 frames per second on a 25 MHz Motorola 68040 CPU. It also added text tracks, which allowed for captioning, lyrics and other potential uses.

Apple contracted San Francisco Canyon Company to port QuickTime to the Windows platform.[44] Version 1.0 of QuickTime for Windows provided only a subset of the full QuickTime API, including only movie playback functions driven through the standard movie controller.

QuickTime 1.6 came out the following year. Version 1.6.2 first incorporated the "QuickTime PowerPlug" which replaced some components with PowerPC-native code when running on PowerPC Macs.

QuickTime 2.x

[edit]
QuickTime logo for versions 2.x and 3.x, from 1994 until 1999

Apple released QuickTime 2.0 for System Software 7 in June 1994—the only version never released for free. It added support for music tracks, which contained the equivalent of MIDI data and which could drive a sound-synthesis engine built into QuickTime itself (using a limited set of instrument sounds licensed from Roland), or any external MIDI-compatible hardware, thereby producing sounds using only small amounts of movie data.

Following Bruce Leak's departure to Web TV, the leadership of the QuickTime team was taken over by Peter Hoddie.

QuickTime 2.0 for Windows appeared in November 1994 under the leadership of Paul Charlton. As part of the development effort for cross-platform QuickTime, Charlton (as architect and technical lead), along with ace individual contributor Michael Kellner and a small highly effective team including Keith Gurganus, ported a subset of the Macintosh Toolbox to Intel and other platforms (notably, MIPS and SGI Unix variants) as the enabling infrastructure for the QuickTime Media Layer (QTML) which was first demonstrated at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in May 1996. The QTML later became the foundation for the Carbon API which allowed legacy Macintosh applications to run on the Darwin kernel in Mac OS X.[citation needed]

The next versions, 2.1 and 2.5, reverted to the previous model of giving QuickTime away for free. They improved the music support and added sprite tracks which allowed the creation of complex animations with the addition of little more than the static sprite images to the size of the movie. QuickTime 2.5 also fully integrated QuickTime VR 2.0.1 into QuickTime as a QuickTime extension. On January 16, 1997, Apple released the QuickTime MPEG Extension (PPC only) as an add-on to QuickTime 2.5, which added software MPEG-1 playback capabilities to QuickTime.

Lawsuit against San Francisco Canyon

[edit]
Main article: San Francisco Canyon Company

In 1994, Apple filed suit against software developer San Francisco Canyon for intellectual property infringement and breach of contract.[45] Apple alleged that San Francisco Canyon had helped develop Video for Windows using several hundred lines of unlicensed QuickTime source code. They were contracted by Intel to help make Video for Windows better use system resources on Intel processors, which was subsequently unilaterally removed.[44] Microsoft and Intel were added to the lawsuit in 1995. The suit ended in a settlement in 1997.

QuickTime 3.x

[edit]

The release of QuickTime 3.0 for Mac OS on March 30, 1998, introduced the now-standard revenue model of releasing the software for free, but with additional features of the Apple-provided MoviePlayer application that end-users could only unlock by buying a QuickTime Pro license code. Since the "Pro" features were the same as the existing features in QuickTime 2.5, any previous user of QuickTime could continue to use an older version of the central MoviePlayer application for the remaining lifespan of Mac OS to 2002, indeed, since these additional features were limited to MoviePlayer, any other QuickTime-compatible application remained unaffected.

QuickTime 3.0 added support for graphics importer components that could read images from GIF, JPEG, TIFF, and other file formats, and video output components which served primarily to export movie data via FireWire. Apple also licensed several third-party technologies for inclusion in QuickTime 3.0, including the Sorenson Video codec for advanced video compression, the QDesign Music codec for substantial audio compression, and the complete Roland Sound Canvas instrument set and GS Format extensions for improved playback of MIDI music files. It also added video effects which programmers could apply in real-time to video tracks. Some of these effects would even respond to mouse clicks by the user, as part of the new movie interaction support (known as wired movies).

QuickTime interactive

[edit]

During the development cycle for QuickTime 3.0, part of the engineering team was working on a more advanced version of QuickTime to be known as QuickTime interactive or QTi. Although similar in concept to the wired movies feature released as part of QuickTime 3.0, QuickTime interactive was much more ambitious. It allowed any QuickTime movie to be a fully interactive and programmable container for media. A special track type was added that contained an interpreter for a custom programming language based on 68000 assembly language. This supported a comprehensive user interaction model for mouse and keyboard event handling based in part on the AML language from the Apple Media Tool.

The QuickTime interactive movie was to have been the playback format for the next generation of HyperCard authoring tool. Both the QuickTime interactive and the HyperCard 3.0 projects were canceled in order to concentrate engineering resources on streaming support for QuickTime 4.0, and the projects were never released to the public.

QuickTime 4.x

[edit]

Apple released QuickTime 4.0 on June 8, 1999[46] for Mac OS 7.5.5 through 8.6 (later Mac OS 9) and Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT. Three minor updates (versions 4.0.1, 4.0.2, and 4.0.3) followed.[47] It introduced features that most users now consider basic:[48]

  • Graphics exporter components, which could write some of the same formats that the previously introduced importers could read. (GIF support was omitted, possibly because of the LZW patent.)
  • Support for the QDesign Music 2 and MPEG-1 Layer 3 audio (MP3).
  • QuickTime 4 was the first version to support streaming. It was accompanied by the release of the free QuickTime Streaming Server version 1.0.
  • QuickTime 4 Player introduced brushed metal to the Macintosh user interface.

On December 17, 1999, Apple provided QuickTime 4.1, this version's first major update.[46] Two minor versions (4.1.1 and 4.1.2) followed.[49] The most notable improvements in the 4.1.x family were:[50]

  • Support for files larger than 2.0 GB in Mac OS 9. (This is a consequence of Mac OS 9 requiring the HFS Plus filesystem.[51])
  • Variable bit rate (VBR) support for MPEG-1 Layer 3 (MP3) audio.
  • Support for Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL).
  • Introduction of AppleScript support in Mac OS.
  • The requirement of a PowerPC processor for Mac OS systems. QuickTime 4.1 dropped support for Motorola 68k Macintosh systems.

QuickTime 5.x

[edit]

QuickTime 5 was one of the shortest-lived versions of QuickTime, released in April 2001 and superseded by QuickTime 6 a little over a year later. This version was the last to have greater capabilities under Mac OS 9 than under Mac OS X, and the last version of QuickTime to support Mac OS versions 7.5.5 through 8.5.1 on a PowerPC Mac and Windows 95. Version 5.0 was initially only released for Mac OS and Mac OS X on April 14, 2001, and version 5.0.1 followed shortly thereafter on April 23, 2001, supporting the classic Mac OS, Mac OS X, and Windows.[52] Three more updates to QuickTime 5 (versions 5.0.2, 5.0.4, and 5.0.5) were released over its short lifespan.

QuickTime 5 delivered the following enhancements:[53]

  • MPEG-1 playback for Windows, and updated MPEG-1 Layer 3 audio support for all systems.
  • Sorenson Video 3 playback and export[54] (added with the 5.0.2 update).[55]
  • Realtime rendering of effects & transitions in DV files, including enhancements to DV rendering, multiprocessor support, and Altivec enhancements for PowerPC G4 systems.
  • Flash 4 playback and export.
  • A new QuickTime VR engine, adding support for cubic VR panoramas.

QuickTime 6.x

[edit]

On July 15, 2002, Apple released QuickTime 6.0, providing the following features:[56]

  • MPEG-4 playback, import, and export, including MPEG-4 Part 2 video and AAC Audio.
  • Support for Flash 5, JPEG 2000, and improved Exif handling.
  • Instant-on streaming playback.
  • MPEG-2 playback (via the purchase of Apple's MPEG-2 Playback Component).
  • Scriptable ActiveX control.

QuickTime 6 was initially available for Mac OS 8.6 – 9.x, Mac OS X (10.1.5 minimum), and Windows 98, Me, 2000, and XP. Development of QuickTime 6 for Mac OS slowed considerably in early 2003, after the release of Mac OS X v10.2 in August 2002. QuickTime 6 for Mac OS continued on the 6.0.x path, eventually stopping with version 6.0.3.[57]

QuickTime 6.1 & 6.1.1 for Mac OS X v10.1 and Mac OS X v10.2 (released October 22, 2002)[58] and QuickTime 6.1 for Windows (released March 31, 2003)[59] offered ISO-Compliant MPEG-4 file creation and fixed the CAN-2003-0168 vulnerability.

Apple released QuickTime 6.2 exclusively for Mac OS X on April 29, 2003, to provide support for iTunes 4, which allowed AAC encoding for songs in the iTunes library.[60] (iTunes was not available for Windows until October 2003.)

On June 3, 2003, Apple released QuickTime 6.3, delivering the following:[61]

  • Support for 3GPP, including 3G Text, video, and audio (AAC and AMR codecs).
  • Support for the .3gp, .amr, and .sdv file formats via separate component.

QuickTime 6.4, released on October 16, 2003, for Mac OS X v10.2, Mac OS X v10.3, and Windows, added the following:[62]

  • Addition of the Apple Pixlet codec (only for Mac OS X v10.3 and later).
  • ColorSync support.
  • Integrated 3GPP.

On December 18, 2003, Apple released QuickTime 6.5, supporting the same systems as version 6.4. Versions 6.5.1 and 6.5.2 followed on April 28, 2004, and October 27, 2004. These versions would be the last to support Windows 98 and Me. The 6.5 family added the following features:[63]

  • 3GPP2 and AMC mobile multimedia formats.
  • QCELP voice code.
  • Apple Lossless (in version 6.5.1[64][65]).

QuickTime 6.5.3 was released on October 12, 2005, for Mac OS X v10.2.8 after the release of QuickTime 7.0, fixing a number of security issues.

QuickTime 7.x

[edit]
QuickTime Player 7.6.6 playing Big Buck Bunny running on Microsoft Windows

Initially released on April 29, 2005, in conjunction with Mac OS X v10.4 (for version 10.3.9 and 10.4.x), QuickTime 7.0 featured the following:[66][67]

After a couple of preview Windows releases,[69] Apple released 7.0.2 as the first stable release on September 7, 2005, for Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Version 7.0.4, released on January 10, 2006, was the first universal binary version. But it suffered numerous bugs, including a buffer overrun, which is more problematic to most users.

Apple dropped support for Windows 2000 with the release of QuickTime 7.2 on July 11, 2007.[70] The last version available for Windows 2000, 7.1.6, contains numerous security vulnerabilities.[71] References to this version have been removed from the QuickTime site, but it can be downloaded from Apple's support section.[72] Apple has not indicated that they will be providing any further security updates for older versions. QuickTime 7.2 is the first version for Windows Vista.

Apple dropped support for Flash content in QuickTime 7.3, breaking content that relied on Flash for interactivity, or animation tracks. Security concerns seem to be part of the decision.[73] Flash flv files can still be played in QuickTime if the free Perian plugin is added.

In QuickTime 7.3, a processor that supports SSE is required. QuickTime 7.4 does not require SSE. Unlike versions 7.2 and 7.3, QuickTime 7.4 cannot be installed on Windows XP without service packs or with Service Pack 1/1A installed (its setup program checks if Service Pack 2 is installed).

QuickTime 7.5 was released on June 10, 2008.[74] QuickTime 7.5.5 was released on September 9, 2008,[75] which requires Mac OS X v10.4 or higher, dropping 10.3 support. QuickTime 7.6 was released on January 21, 2009.[76] QuickTime 7.7 was released on August 3, 2011.[77]

QuickTime 7.6.6 is available for OS X, 10.6.3 Snow Leopard until 10.14 Mojave, as 10.15 Catalina will only support 64-bit applications.[78] There is a 7.7 release of QuickTime 7 for OS X, but it is only for Leopard 10.5.[79]

QuickTime 7.7.6 is the last release for Windows XP Service Pack 2 or 3.

QuickTime 7.7.9 is the last Windows release of QuickTime. Apple stopped supporting QuickTime on Windows afterwards.[14]

Safari 12, released on September 17, 2018, for macOS Sierra and macOS High Sierra (and the default browser included on macOS Mojave released on September 24, 2018), which drops support for NPAPI plug-ins (except for Adobe Flash) dropped its support for QuickTime 7's web plugin. On September 24, 2018, Apple dropped support for the macOS version of QuickTime 7. This effectively marked the end of the technology in Apple's codec and web development.

Starting with macOS Catalina, QuickTime 7 applications, image, audio and video codecs will no longer be compatible with macOS or supported by Apple.

QuickTime X

[edit]

QuickTime X (pronounced QuickTime Ten)[80] was initially demonstrated at WWDC on June 8, 2009, and shipped with Mac OS X v10.6.[81]

It includes visual chapters,[82] conversion, sharing to YouTube, video editing,[83] capture of video and audio streams, screen recording,[84] GPU acceleration, and live streaming.[85]

But it removed support for various widely used formats, in particular the omission of MIDI caused significant inconvenience and trouble to many musicians and their potential audiences.[86]

In addition, a screen recorder is featured which records whatever is on the screen. However it is not possible to capture certain Digital rights management protected content. This includes iTunes/Apple TV video purchases, or any content protected by Apple's FairPlay DRM technology. While Safari uses FairPlay, Google Chrome and Firefox use Widevine for DRM, whose content is not protected from QuickTime screen capturing.

The reason for the jump in numbering from 7 to 10 (X) was to indicate a similar break with the previous versions of the product that Mac OS X indicated. QuickTime X is fundamentally different from previous versions, in that it is provided as a Cocoa (Objective-C) framework and breaks compatibility with the previous QuickTime 7 C-based APIs that were previously used. QuickTime X was completely rewritten to implement modern audio video codecs in 64-bit. QuickTime X is a combination of two technologies: QuickTime Kit Framework (QTKit) and QuickTime X Player. QTKit is used by QuickTime player to display media. QuickTime X does not implement all of the functionality of the previous QuickTime as well as some of the codecs. When QuickTime X attempts to operate with a 32-bit codec or perform an operation not supported by QuickTime X, it will start a 32-bit helper process to perform the requested operation. The website Ars Technica revealed that QuickTime X uses QuickTime 7.x via QTKit to run older codecs that have not made the transition to 64-bit.[87]

QuickTime X does not support .SRT subtitle files.[88] It has been suggested using the program Subler to interleave the MP4 and SRT files will fix this oversight, which can be downloaded at Bitbucket.[89]

QuickTime 7 may still be required to support older formats on Snow Leopard such as QTVR, interactive QuickTime movies, and MIDI files. In such cases, a compatible version of QuickTime 7 is included on Snow Leopard installation disc and may be installed side-by-side with QuickTime X. Users who have a Pro license for QuickTime 7 can then activate their license.[90]

A Snow Leopard compatible version of QuickTime 7 may also be downloaded from Apple Support website.[91]

The software got an increment with the release of Mavericks, and as of August 2018, the current version is v10.5. It contains more sharing options (email, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr etc.), more export options (including web export in multiple sizes, and export for iPhone 4/iPad/Apple TV (but not Apple TV 2). It also includes a new way of fast forwarding through a video and mouse support for scrolling.[92]

Starting with macOS Catalina, Apple only provides QuickTime X, as QuickTime 7 was never updated to 64-bit, affecting many applications, image, audio, and video formats utilizing QuickTime 7, and compatibility with these codecs in QuickTime X.

Platform support

[edit]
Macintosh
OS Latest version
System 6.0.7 – 7.0.1 2.5[93]
System 7.1 – 8.1 on 68K 4.0.3[94]
System 7.1.2 – 7.5.3 on PowerPC 4.0.3[94]
System 7.5.5 – 8.5.1 on PowerPC 5.0.5[95]
Mac OS 8.6 – 9 6.0.3[96]
Mac OS X v10.0 5.0 (bundled)
Mac OS X v10.1 6.3.1[97]
Mac OS X v10.2 6.5.3[98]
Mac OS X v10.3 7.5[99]
Mac OS X v10.4 7.6.4[100]
Mac OS X v10.5 7.7[79]
Mac OS X v10.6 10.0[101] / 7.6.6[78] (optional)
Mac OS X v10.7 10.1[102] / 7.6.6[78] (optional)
OS X v10.8 10.2[citation needed] / 7.6.6[78] (optional)
OS X v10.9 10.3[citation needed] / 7.6.6[78] (optional)
OS X v10.10 10.4[citation needed] / 7.6.6[78] (optional)
OS X v10.11 10.4 (855)[citation needed] / 7.6.6[78] (optional)
macOS v10.12 10.4[citation needed] / 7.6.6[78] (optional)
macOS v10.13 10.4[citation needed] / 7.6.6[78] (optional)
macOS v10.14 10.5[citation needed] / 7.6.6[78] (optional)
macOS v10.15 and later 10.5[citation needed]
Microsoft Windows
OS Latest version
Windows 3.1 – Windows NT 3.51 2.1.2[103][104]
Windows 95 5.0.5[105]
Windows NT 4.0 6.1[106]
Windows 98, ME 6.5.2[107]
Windows 2000 7.1.6[108]
Windows XP RTM, SP1 7.3.1
Windows XP SP2, SP3 7.7.6[109]
Windows Vista and Windows 7 7.7.9[110]

Creating software that uses QuickTime

[edit]

QuickTime X

[edit]

QuickTime X previously provided the QTKit Framework on Mac OS 10.6 until 10.14.[111] Since the release of macOS 10.15, AVKit and AVFoundation are used instead (due to the removal of 32-bit audio and video codecs, as well as image formats and APIs supported by QuickTime 7).

Previous versions

[edit]

QuickTime consists of two major subsystems: the Movie Toolbox and the Image Compression Manager. The Movie Toolbox consists of a general API for handling time-based data, while the Image Compression Manager provides services for dealing with compressed raster data as produced by video and photo codecs.

Developers can use the QuickTime software development kit (SDK) to develop multimedia applications for Mac or Windows with the C programming language or with the Java programming language (see QuickTime for Java), or, under Windows, using COM/ActiveX from a language supporting this.

The COM/ActiveX option was introduced as part of QuickTime 7 for Windows and is intended for programmers who want to build standalone Windows applications using high-level QuickTime movie playback and control with some import, export, and editing capabilities. This is considerably easier than mastering the original QuickTime C API.[112]

QuickTime 7 for Mac introduced the QuickTime Kit (aka QTKit), a developer framework that is intended to replace previous APIs for Cocoa developers. This framework is for Mac only, and exists as Objective-C abstractions around a subset of the C interface. Mac OS X v10.5 extends QTKit to full 64-bit support. The QTKit allows multiplexing between QuickTime X and QuickTime 7 behind the scenes so that the user need not worry about which version of QuickTime they need to use.

Bugs and vulnerabilities

[edit]

QuickTime 7.4 was found to disable Adobe's video compositing program, After Effects.[113][114][115] This was due to the DRM built into version 7.4 since it allowed movie rentals from iTunes. QuickTime 7.4.1 resolved this issue.[116]

Versions 4.0 through 7.3 contained a buffer overflow bug which could compromise the security of a PC using either the QuickTime Streaming Media client, or the QuickTime player itself.[117] The bug was fixed in version 7.3.1.

QuickTime 7.5.5 and earlier are known to have a list of significant vulnerabilities that allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds memory access and application crash) on a targeted system. The list includes six types of buffer overflow,[118][119][120][121][122][123] data conversion,[124] signed vs. unsigned integer mismatch,[125] and uninitialized memory pointer.[126]

QuickTime 7.6 has been found to disable Mac users' ability to play certain games, such as Civilization IV and The Sims 2. There are fixes available from the publisher, Aspyr.[127]

QuickTime 7 lacks support for H.264 Sample Aspect Ratio.[128] QuickTime X does not have this limitation,[citation needed] but many Apple products (such as Apple TV) still use the older QuickTime 7 engine. iTunes previously utilized QuickTime 7, but as of October 2019, iTunes no longer utilizes the older QuickTime 7 engine.[129]

QuickTime 7.7.x on Windows fails to encode H.264 on multi-core systems with more than approximately 20 threads, e.g. HP Z820 with 2× 8-core CPUs. A suggested solution[by whom?] is to disable hyper-threading/limit CPU cores. Encoding speed and stability depends on the scaling of the player window.[citation needed]

On April 14, 2016, Christopher Budd of Trend Micro announced that Apple has ceased all security patching of QuickTime for Windows, and called attention to two Zero Day Initiative advisories, ZDI-16-241[130] and ZDI-16-242,[131] issued by Trend Micro's subsidiary TippingPoint on that same day.[15] Also on that same day, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team issued alert TA16-105A, encapsulating Budd's announcement and the Zero Day Initiative advisories.[16] Apple responded with a statement that QuickTime 7 for Windows is no longer supported by Apple.[14]

See also

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References

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QuickTime

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QuickTime is an extensible multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., designed to handle various formats of digital video, audio, pictures, panoramic images, and interactivity on personal computers. Released on December 2, 1991, for the Macintosh platform, it pioneered mass-market digital video playback by treating video as a standard data type, enabling real-time compression and integration with applications through simple APIs. The framework was created by a small team of engineers, including Bruce Leak, Peter Hoddie, and Doug Camplejohn, from Apple's Advanced Technology Group, who addressed challenges like hardware variability and premature announcement at the 1990 Worldwide Developers' Conference by developing scalable software-based solutions. QuickTime introduced the .MOV file format, which became a foundational element of the MPEG-4 standard and facilitated the shift from analog media like laserdiscs to digital formats on personal computers. Its innovations, such as the Apple Video codec (codenamed "Road Pizza"), supported early applications, including the 1993 game and video podcasts, while enabling cross-platform use via QuickTime for Windows starting in 1992. Over its evolution, QuickTime progressed through versions like QuickTime 7 (2005), which added advanced editing and streaming capabilities, but Apple deprecated the legacy framework in favor of AVFoundation for modern media handling. Today, while the core QuickTime framework is largely superseded, QuickTime Player remains included in macOS as a basic media player for viewing, editing, and screen recording of common formats like MP4 and MOV files. Support for QuickTime 7 on macOS ended with the release of in , and the Windows version was discontinued in 2016 due to security concerns, urging users to uninstall it. Despite its deprecation, QuickTime's legacy endures in the widespread adoption of digital standards and tools that power streaming and across devices.

Introduction

Overview

QuickTime is Apple's multimedia technology designed for handling audio, video, animation, and graphics on computers. Initially released on December 2, 1991, for the Macintosh System 6 operating system, it introduced digital video playback to personal computing in a groundbreaking way. QuickTime serves dual roles as a framework for developers, offering APIs and tools to embed multimedia capabilities into applications, and as a standalone player application for end-users to view and interact with media. Its core purposes encompass playback, editing, and streaming of multimedia content, enabling seamless integration of diverse media types. At its foundation, QuickTime features a modular architecture utilizing components for extensibility, which allows the system to support new codecs and functionalities without overhauling the core structure. Over subsequent versions, it evolved to accommodate broader media standards and cross-platform compatibility.

Historical Significance

QuickTime marked a pivotal innovation in by introducing affordable, real-time playback to consumer personal computers in , well before the advent of widespread internet-based video distribution. Developed by Apple for the Macintosh platform, it treated video as a native , enabling seamless integration into applications and files without specialized hardware, which democratized creation and consumption at a time when video was primarily confined to expensive professional equipment. This breakthrough facilitated the shift from analog to digital workflows, making video accessible on standard hardware like drives. The framework's extensibility spurred rapid adoption of multimedia in the 1990s, powering early such as Adobe Premiere, which was released in late 1991 as an early nonlinear editor leveraging QuickTime for timeline-based manipulation of digital clips. It also laid the groundwork for web streaming, with versions like QuickTime 4.0 in 1999 introducing support for HTTP-based delivery, allowing integration into websites and browsers for on-demand video playback over dial-up connections. This enabled developers to embed in applications, from educational tools to entertainment, accelerating the desktop video revolution and influencing the proliferation of interactive titles like in 1993. QuickTime's architectural contributions extended to industry standards, particularly through its MOV container format, which provided a flexible structure for synchronizing multiple media tracks and served as the foundation for the MPEG-4 file format standardized in 1998. Apple's submission of QuickTime technologies during MPEG-4 development influenced the adoption of its container design, promoting interoperability across devices and platforms for compressed video and audio. This legacy persists in modern digital ecosystems, where MOV-derived formats underpin streaming and mobile media. Culturally, QuickTime shaped early landscapes by enabling interactive web videos on sites like .com in the mid-1990s, immersive experiences that blended video with hypertext, and professional workflows in film and television before cloud-based streaming dominated. Its role in these areas prefigured today's ubiquitous online video, fostering creative experimentation in consumer hardware. In recognition of its advancements, particularly in streaming architectures supporting standards like MPEG-4 and H.264, QuickTime shared a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award in 2007 with partners including and .

History

Early Development (Versions 1.x–3.x)

QuickTime 1.0 was released on December 2, 1991, as an extension for Macintosh System 7, enabling basic playback of digital video and synchronized sound files on personal computers for the first time. Developed by a team led by Bruce Leak at Apple, it introduced the foundational Movie file format (.mov) and initial codecs like the Apple Video codec, allowing users to capture, edit, and play short video clips alongside audio tracks. This version focused on integrating multimedia directly into the operating system, supporting resolutions up to 160x120 pixels at 15 frames per second, which was revolutionary for the era's hardware constraints. The 2.x series, spanning 1992 to 1994, expanded QuickTime's capabilities with key enhancements in audio and compression. QuickTime 1.5, released in late 1992, improved video performance and added initial support for better data compression algorithms. QuickTime , launched in June 1994 as Apple's first commercial, non-free release priced at around $50, introduced music track support, enabling playback of Standard MIDI Files and integration with external synthesizers for more dynamic soundtracks in applications. It also enhanced video compression options, including improved handling of photo and codecs, which reduced file sizes while maintaining playable quality on media. An early port of QuickTime to was released in November 1992, developed by the Canyon Company under contract to Apple, providing basic video and audio playback capabilities on PCs and influencing Microsoft's . In December 1994, Apple filed a against the Canyon Company, alleging the firm had breached contracts by misusing proprietary QuickTime developed for a Windows port to create competing technology for and . The suit, which expanded to include and in early 1995, highlighted early challenges in cross-platform development and was eventually settled in 1997 as part of broader Apple-Microsoft agreements. QuickTime 3.0, released on March 30, 1998, marked a significant evolution by introducing QuickTime Interactive, a framework for embedding web-based 3D graphics, wired sprites for interactive animations, and enhanced QuickTime VR (QTVR) capabilities. Building on QTVR's debut, version 3.x improved panoramic stitching, object rotation, and hotspot interactions, allowing more immersive virtual environments playable directly in browsers via the QuickTime plug-in. Sprites enabled 2D animations within movies, supporting scripting for user interactions like button clicks, which facilitated early web multimedia without heavy scripting languages. These features emphasized QuickTime's growing role in internet-delivered content, though core architecture remained rooted in extensible components for media handling. Throughout its early years from 1991 to 1998, while primarily developed for Macintosh platforms requiring or later, QuickTime saw an initial cross-platform expansion with the 1992 Windows port, targeting CD-ROM-based titles due to bandwidth and storage constraints of the time. This Mac-centric focus, supplemented by the early Windows version, fostered an ecosystem of interactive educational and entertainment software, such as encyclopedias and games, but broader adoption awaited later official enhancements.

Mid-Period Advancements (Versions 4.x–6.x)

QuickTime version 4.0, released in June 1999, marked a significant expansion in multimedia capabilities with the introduction of real-time streaming support using the Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), enabling live and on-demand delivery of audio and video over the internet. This version also integrated native playback for MP3 audio files, broadening its appeal for music distribution and playback. Additionally, QuickTime 4.0 provided the initial official port to Windows platforms, allowing seamless cross-platform media handling beyond the Macintosh ecosystem and the earlier limited Windows version. Building on these foundations, QuickTime 5.0, launched in April 2001, introduced native support for Mac OS X, ensuring compatibility with Apple's transitioning operating system architecture. It featured improvements to the video codec for enhanced low-bitrate streaming suitable for early web applications, alongside better web integration through support for MPEG-4 standards and an updated player interface with QuickTime TV channels for easier access to online content. QuickTime 6.x, spanning releases from 2002 to 2004, further advanced security with new Restrictions APIs that allowed developers to control operations like saving or exporting on protected content, mitigating unauthorized use. This period also brought support for Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), the MPEG-4 audio standard offering superior quality at lower bitrates, and JPEG 2000 for high-fidelity image compression using wavelet technology. QuickTime 6.0 included enhancements for the Windows system tray menu, allowing easy access to the QuickTime Player. The mid-period saw QuickTime's deliberate expansion to non-Mac platforms, with official Windows support solidifying from version 4.0 onward to capture the growing PC in . A brief port to the operating system, developed in collaboration with in the late 1990s, extended QuickTime's reach to high-end workstations for professional and video workflows before focus shifted back to mainstream platforms. Key events during this era included QuickTime's integration with upon its 2001 debut, leveraging the framework for efficient audio playback and encoding to support the burgeoning digital music ecosystem. Concurrently, the rise of in the early amplified QuickTime's streaming applications, powering increased adoption for web-based video and music delivery.

Later Iterations and Transition (Versions 7.x and X)

QuickTime 7, released in April 2005 alongside Mac OS X Tiger, represented the final iteration of the legacy QuickTime framework, built on the Carbon API for compatibility with older macOS applications while dropping support for Classic Mac OS versions prior to OS X. This version introduced native support for the H.264 (Advanced Video Coding) codec, a high-efficiency standard that enabled superior video compression and playback quality, particularly for high-definition content, and was a key factor in its adoption across platforms. The 2009 clarification from MPEG LA on H.264 licensing terms, exempting royalties for free-to-view internet video, further accelerated its rollout in QuickTime by reducing barriers for broad implementation in web and streaming applications. In 2007, Apple integrated the ProRes codec family into QuickTime 7 with the launch of Final Cut Studio 2, providing professional-grade intermediate codecs like ProRes 422 and ProRes 422 HQ optimized for editing workflows with minimal quality loss during post-production. QuickTime 7 received ongoing updates through 2016, with version 7.7.9 serving as the last major release for Windows, incorporating security fixes but no new features, as modern Windows versions had by then natively supported H.264 and AAC formats originally popularized by QuickTime. Apple discontinued support for QuickTime 7 on Windows following this update in January 2016, citing redundant functionality in contemporary operating systems and browsers. On macOS, QuickTime 7 maintained strong with legacy media types, including QuickTime VR (QTVR), interactive movies, and files, ensuring continuity for existing content and applications reliant on the original framework. In contrast, QuickTime X debuted in August 2009 with macOS as a ground-up rewrite using the Cocoa framework and AVFoundation as its core underpinnings, intentionally breaking compatibility with older QuickTime APIs to prioritize modern, 64-bit media processing and developer extensibility. This shift emphasized forward-looking capabilities, such as seamless integration with emerging standards, while deprecating legacy elements like Carbon dependencies. Key enhancements included support for (HLS), Apple's adaptive bitrate protocol introduced in 2009 for reliable delivery of video over variable networks, and full-screen playback, which was refined in macOS (2011) to leverage multi-monitor setups and gesture controls for immersive viewing. The architectural differences highlighted QuickTime 7's role in preserving legacy media handling versus QuickTime X's focus on contemporary ecosystems; the latter's AVFoundation foundation not only powered macOS features but also facilitated direct integration with media APIs, enabling consistent playback and across Apple's platforms without reliance on the aging QuickTime framework.

Discontinuation and Legacy Support

Apple officially discontinued support for QuickTime on Windows in 2016, following the discovery of multiple vulnerabilities that could allow remote execution, with the final version being QuickTime 7.7.9 released in January of that year. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT, now CISA) issued an advisory in April 2016 urging Windows users to uninstall the software immediately due to three unpatched zero-day vulnerabilities, emphasizing risks to system integrity and data confidentiality. As a result, unpatched installations of QuickTime for Windows remain vulnerable to exploitation, and Apple has provided no further updates or patches since then. On macOS, active development of QuickTime as a standalone framework effectively ended earlier, with the QTKit API deprecated in Mac OS X Lion in 2011 in favor of AVFoundation, though legacy support for QuickTime 7 persisted until in 2018 and was fully removed in in 2019. By 2017, with the release of , Apple had shifted core media handling to AVFoundation, marking the transition away from traditional QuickTime components for new development. As of 2025, QuickTime Player continues to be bundled with macOS for , allowing playback of legacy QuickTime files, but it relies on the underlying AVFoundation framework for media processing rather than the original QuickTime , with no new features added since QuickTime X in 2009. In professional workflows, QuickTime remains relevant for handling older formats like ProRes codecs in applications such as , where it supports and editing of legacy media without requiring full framework updates. Apple recommends alternatives like for cross-platform playback or native macOS tools such as the built-in Video app and Preview for , as these integrate seamlessly with modern AVFoundation-based systems. Looking ahead, QuickTime's role is one of gradual phase-out, with Apple promoting the Core Media framework—part of AVFoundation—for low-level media operations in future applications, ensuring continued support for QuickTime-compatible file formats like .mov while deprecating the legacy engine entirely. This transition minimizes disruption for users maintaining archival content but underscores the shift toward more secure, efficient media handling in contemporary software ecosystems.

Technical Framework

Core Components

The QuickTime framework is built around a modular that enables efficient handling of multimedia data, including video, audio, and images, through a set of core managers and toolboxes that process time-based and static media. At its foundation, the system separates concerns such as media assembly, compression, and extensibility, allowing applications to manipulate movies—containers for synchronized tracks of different media types—without directly handling low-level data. This design emphasizes pluggability, where components can be dynamically loaded to support diverse formats and custom processing needs. The Movie Toolbox serves as the central manager for movie files, overseeing the creation, , playback, and of time-based media. It organizes movies into tracks, each representing a stream of media such as video or audio, and handles assembly by linking tracks to underlying media data without altering the raw content during edits—instead using pointers for operations like cutting or pasting. Key functions include prerolling media for playback, setting rates for speed control, and integrating with media handlers to process specific track types, ensuring temporal alignment across elements like sound and visuals. This toolbox also supports transformation matrices for scaling, rotating, or clipping media during rendering, facilitating seamless integration in applications. Complementing the Movie Toolbox, the Image Compression Manager is responsible for encoding and decoding images and video frames, enabling efficient storage and display of visual data. It compresses still pictures or sequences using techniques like spatial and temporal quality adjustments, frame differencing, and band buffering to handle large datasets asynchronously. For video, it interacts with the Movie Toolbox to process track frames, supporting operations such as depth conversion from pixMaps and data for output. Decompression occurs on-the-fly during playback, with configurable parameters like rates to balance quality and performance. The Component Manager provides the extensible backbone by loading and orchestrating pluggable modules, such as codecs, importers, and exporters, allowing QuickTime to adapt to new media types without core modifications. It registers components by type and subtype (e.g., for compression or data exchange), mediates connections between applications and these modules, and handles instance-specific like callbacks for custom behavior. This manager ensures by dispatching requests indirectly, supporting dynamic loading of third-party extensions for specialized tasks. Other essential elements include the Graphics Importer and Exporter, which manage import and export of static graphics formats like PICT into QuickTime movies, handling conversions, cropping, scaling, and rendering to offscreen buffers for preview or integration. For audio, the Music and Sound Managers—integrated within the Movie Toolbox—oversee synthesis, playback, and recording of sound tracks, controlling volume, sample rates, and channel configurations (e.g., mono/, 8/16-bit) while synchronizing with visual media. These managers support sequences and raw audio data, enabling real-time manipulation via media handlers. Overall, QuickTime's architecture is inherently extensible, relying on the Component Manager to incorporate third-party components for custom media types, such as novel codecs or importers, thereby allowing developers to expand functionality for emerging formats while maintaining compatibility with core processing pipelines. This modular approach ensures robust handling across applications, from simple playback to complex editing workflows.

Platform Compatibility

QuickTime was originally developed as a core component of the Macintosh operating system, debuting with in 1991 to enable capabilities on Apple hardware. It provided native support across successive Macintosh platforms, from early 68000-series processors—though performance was limited and not recommended on these systems—to PowerPC, Intel-based architectures, and eventually . QuickTime 4.1 in 1999 marked the end of official compatibility with 68k Macintosh computers, shifting focus to PowerPC systems. The framework evolved to support 64-bit processing starting with QuickTime X in (2011), while legacy QuickTime 7 remained 32-bit but compatible via 2 on Macs. Full native support for arrived with QuickTime Player 10.5 in (2020) and later versions. However, legacy QuickTime 7 support ended with (10.14) in 2018, as subsequent releases like (10.15) deprecated 32-bit applications, requiring developers to migrate to AVFoundation for new media apps. On Windows, QuickTime offered cross-platform compatibility beginning with version 1.0 in , distributed as a standalone installer to enable playback and editing of files outside the Macintosh . Support extended through version 7.x, with the final release (7.7.9) in 2016 compatible with and 7, though it could install on later versions like with reduced functionality. Apple discontinued all updates for QuickTime on Windows in April 2016 due to ongoing security vulnerabilities, advising users to uninstall it to mitigate risks from unpatched exploits. Beyond major desktop operating systems, QuickTime saw limited ports to other platforms. In the mid-1990s, Inc. (SGI) integrated QuickTime compatibility into its 5.3 operating system via the WebFORCE bundle, allowing reading and writing of QuickTime movies using compression on SGI workstations. This port was brief and targeted professional graphics workflows but did not extend to full QuickTime framework emulation. QuickTime never received official support for or Android, though third-party tools like Wine enable running legacy Windows versions of QuickTime applications on Linux distributions, and media players such as VLC provide compatibility for QuickTime formats without the full framework. A key aspect of QuickTime's platform compatibility was its emphasis on interoperable standards, particularly the MOV container format and codecs like H.264 (MPEG-4 Part 10), which facilitated cross-platform playback without requiring the full QuickTime installation. Introduced in QuickTime 6 (2002), H.264 support became a cornerstone for hardware-accelerated decoding on both Macintosh and Windows systems, enabling seamless sharing of video files across diverse environments as native OS support for these standards grew. This design choice reduced dependency on platform-specific installations over time, though it also contributed to the eventual deprecation of standalone QuickTime on non-Apple platforms.

File Formats and Codecs

The (QTFF), typically using the .mov or .qt filename extensions, functions as the primary container for storing and exchanging digital content. This atom-based structure organizes data into a hierarchical system of atoms, with the movie atom ('moov') containing essential metadata and definitions for multiple synchronized tracks, such as video ('vide'), audio ('soun'), text ('text'), and specialized types like sprite or hint tracks for streaming. This flexibility allows QuickTime to handle diverse media streams within a single file, supporting features like interleaved samples for efficient playback and editing. QTFF served as the foundational precursor to the (ISOBMFF, ISO/IEC 14496-12), which forms the basis for the MP4 container standard developed by MPEG. As a result, MOV files are largely compatible with MP4, sharing the same atom structure while incorporating QuickTime-specific extensions. QuickTime natively supports H.264/AVC () in Baseline, Main, and High profiles, extending up to Level 5.1 for high-resolution content, enabling broad interoperability with modern video workflows. QuickTime's versatility stems from its support for a range of video codecs, balancing compression efficiency, quality, and compatibility across professional and consumer applications. Key video codecs include:
CodecDescription
H.264/AVCIndustry-standard compressed format for high-efficiency video.Streaming, web delivery, and HD playback.
Lossy, intra-frame codec family (e.g., ProRes 422, 4444) for high-quality intermediate .Professional ; supports up to 8K resolutions and alpha channels.
Early spatial compression algorithm for low-bandwidth video.Legacy archiving and compatibility with older hardware.
DV standard for tape-based formats.Camcorder imports and standard-definition workflows.
Frame-by-frame JPEG compression variants (A/B).Simple and real-time capture.
For audio, QuickTime accommodates both compressed and uncompressed formats, ensuring synchronization with video tracks via sample tables. Prominent audio codecs encompass:
CodecDescriptionUse Case
MPEG-4 successor to , supporting high-quality multichannel audio.Modern media playback and streaming.
Ubiquitous for stereo audio.Compatibility with portable devices and web audio.
AIFFApple for uncompressed PCM audio.Professional audio editing and lossless archiving.
Waveform Audio File Format, typically uncompressed.Cross-platform audio exchange and sampling.
Image handling in QuickTime extends to still-image tracks or embedded thumbnails, with support for formats like (for progressive loading and ), PNG (lossless with transparency), and GIF (animated sequences). These enable features such as image sequences in video tracks or standalone playback. A core benefit of QTFF is its embedding of metadata through user data atoms ('udta'), which store details like track descriptions, timestamps, and custom tags, facilitating searchability and editing without altering media samples. Additionally, the front-loaded 'moov' atom and chunk-based organization support partial file downloads and progressive streaming, allowing playback to begin before the full file is retrieved—critical for early internet-based media distribution. QuickTime's codec ecosystem extends beyond native capabilities through modular components, providing support for additional formats like containers (via video-for-Windows integration) and (lossless audio) when third-party or system components are installed. However, legacy versions of QuickTime, such as those predating version 7, exhibited limitations in codec decoding speed and format compatibility, often requiring updates or external plugins for broader support.

QuickTime Player

Version Evolution

The QuickTime Player began as a simple application bundled with the original QuickTime framework release in December 1991, offering basic windowed playback for video, audio, and files directly within the Macintosh operating system's Finder interface. Early versions from 1.x through 3.x focused on core playback functionality, supporting formats like video and standard files, with no advanced editing tools in the free edition. The Pro upgrade, introduced alongside version 1.x and priced at a one-time $30 registration key, unlocked basic editing capabilities such as trimming clips and exporting tracks, a model that persisted through subsequent releases. By versions 4.x to 6.x in the late and early , the player added streaming support and improved integration with web browsers, while retaining its minimalist windowed design and Finder accessibility for everyday media viewing. QuickTime 7, released in April 2005, marked a significant advancement for the player, particularly in its Pro edition, which expanded editing features to include advanced trimming, individual track exporting, and codec adjustments for custom media handling. This version adopted Apple's Carbon API to ensure compatibility with both classic Mac OS and the emerging OS X environment, allowing seamless operation on PowerPC-based systems while introducing capabilities like full-screen playback and simplified movie sharing. The $30 Pro key continued to enable these enhancements, emphasizing professional workflows without requiring full application replacement. In August 2009, with the launch of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, Apple introduced QuickTime Player X (version 10.0), a complete rewrite using the Cocoa framework and AVFoundation for a modern, gesture-based optimized for interactions. This overhaul shifted to full-screen mode by default, dropped the traditional Pro upgrade model initially—integrating basic trimming and splitting tools into the free app—and prioritized native 64-bit architecture for improved performance on Macs. Subsequent updates through the restored limited editing features, such as rotation and rearrangement of clips, while emphasizing streaming support for (HLS). Post-2010 developments integrated QuickTime Player X more deeply with macOS ecosystem features, including sharing options via and Messages starting in (10.9) in 2013. By (13.0) in 2022, the player was at version 10.5, incorporating minor UI refinements like enhanced chapter navigation and better accessibility controls, while maintaining its Cocoa-based design for ongoing compatibility. It has remained at version 10.5 through subsequent releases, including macOS Sequoia (15.x) as of November 2025. Key distinctions persist between legacy QuickTime 7 and Player X: the former excels in handling obsolete formats such as sequences and QuickTime VR panoramas, whereas X focuses on contemporary 64-bit efficiency and adaptive streaming protocols like HLS.

Features and Capabilities

QuickTime Player provides robust playback capabilities, including onscreen controls for play, pause, fast-forward, rewind, and volume adjustment, allowing users to navigate and control media seamlessly. Scrubbing through videos is supported via trackpad gestures or mouse dragging on the timeline, enabling precise frame-by-frame review. The player handles and (CEA-608 format) when embedded in compatible files, displaying them during playback. In professional editions like QuickTime 7 Pro, advanced playback extends to multi-angle videos encoded in ProRes, permitting selection among angles, as well as QuickTime VR (QTVR) for interactive 360-degree panoramas and object exploration with zoom and hotspot navigation. Editing features in the free version of QuickTime Player X focus on basic operations, such as trimming clips by dragging handles in the timeline, splitting movies into multiple segments, and rearranging or rotating elements. QuickTime 7 Pro offers more advanced tools, including functions for individual tracks (video, audio, or text), allowing users to merge separate audio and video streams or delete sections precisely. Annotations can be added as metadata tracks, such as text overlays for information or notices, with customizable font styles. These editing capabilities support a range of media types, including those detailed in the file formats section. Recording functionality was introduced in QuickTime Player X, enabling screen capture of the full display or a selected portion, along with new movie or audio recordings using built-in or external devices. Audio capture during screen recording includes input, with options for system audio via third-party tools if needed. Exports from recordings default to MOV format but can be converted to MP4 and other resolutions like or 4K through the Export As menu. QuickTime 7 Pro supported earlier recording of video via FireWire on Mac and audio on both platforms, though without the screen capture emphasis of later versions. Sharing and streaming options in QuickTime Player include support for (HLS) playback of live video feeds, ensuring adaptive bitrate delivery for smooth viewing on Apple devices. Integration with allows uploading edited or recorded files for cloud storage and sharing, while direct export options facilitate uploads to . In QuickTime 7 Pro, sharing extended to email attachments or web publishing via .Mac services. Pro editions provide enhanced export controls, such as codec selection (e.g., H.264 or AAC) and compression settings for custom quality and data rates, unavailable in the free version. QuickTime Player X, however, imposes limitations like the absence of MIDI playback—supported in QuickTime 7 with built-in synthesizer for Standard MIDI files—and reduced format compatibility compared to earlier Pro versions, prioritizing modern codecs over legacy ones.

Software Development

Integration for Developers

Developers integrated QuickTime into applications primarily through Apple's provided APIs, which evolved from C-based interfaces in earlier versions to object-oriented frameworks in later ones. For macOS versions prior to OS X, the Carbon API offered procedural functions for embedding QuickTime movies into applications, including routines like NewMovieFromFile for loading movies and MovieSetGWorld for rendering to a graphics port. These interfaces also supported event handling via the Carbon Event Manager, allowing applications to respond to user interactions such as play, pause, and seek operations during movie playback. With the introduction of OS X, QuickTime integration shifted toward Cocoa frameworks, providing higher-level abstractions for media manipulation. The QTKit framework, introduced in QuickTime 7, offered Objective-C classes for seamless embedding of movies in Cocoa applications, such as QTMovie for loading and controlling media and QTMovieView for displaying it within a view hierarchy. Developers could handle events through standard Cocoa mechanisms, like notifications from QTMovie for state changes (e.g., end of playback), enabling responsive media players with minimal boilerplate code. QuickTime X, introduced in OS X 10.6 , further refined this approach by encapsulating QuickTime functionality within the QTKit framework's API, where QTMovie served as the central class for importing, editing, and exporting time-based media. However, QTKit was deprecated in OS X 10.9 (2013), and the legacy QuickTime 7 framework was removed in macOS 10.15 Catalina (2019), with Apple recommending migration to AVFoundation for new development, as it provides a unified, modern interface for media playback and processing across Apple platforms. In earlier QuickTime versions (pre-7), developers used C-based APIs to create custom importers and exporters, registering them as components via the Component Manager to extend QuickTime's support for proprietary formats. For instance, these calls enabled integration in games for playback and in web browsers for rendering embedded media, where functions like GetMovieImporterForFile allowed custom handling of media tracks without altering core QuickTime behavior. The typical workflow for QuickTime integration involved registering components with the system using RegisterComponent, which made custom codecs or handlers available globally, followed by managing media tracks through APIs like AddMovieTrack to add video, audio, or text streams to a movie object. Developers then manipulated tracks with functions such as GetTrackMedia to access samples and SetTrackEnabled to control visibility, ensuring synchronized playback across multiple media types. On Windows, the QTDevWin toolkit provided the necessary headers, libraries, and samples for cross-platform development, allowing Visual C++ applications to link against QuickTime DLLs for similar functionality. For legacy applications on modern macOS, Apple advises migrating QuickTime-dependent code to Core Media frameworks, which offer low-level access to media processing pipelines compatible with AVFoundation, ensuring continued support for and format handling without relying on deprecated components. This transition preserves platform compatibility while leveraging core components like media handlers for track management, though differences in paradigms (e.g., procedural vs. object-oriented) require careful refactoring.

Third-Party Extensions

Third-party extensions for QuickTime were developed by independent creators to augment its capabilities, primarily through the Component Manager, a framework that allowed plug-ins to integrate seamlessly as codecs, importers, exporters, and other modules. These extensions addressed gaps in native format support, enabling QuickTime to handle a wider array of media types without requiring users to switch applications. Key examples include Perian, an open-source component that added support for formats such as , , , and FLV (utilizing the On2 VP6 codec for playback). Similarly, XiphQT provided importers for Ogg audio and video, facilitating open-source multimedia integration. For Windows Media formats, Flip4Mac offered comprehensive playback, import, and export of WMV and WMA files, distributed in partnership with . These tools were installed in system directories like /Library/QuickTime/ and automatically recognized by QuickTime-enabled applications. Developers leveraged the Component Manager API to build these plug-ins, which could be embedded in software like Adobe Premiere for enhanced editing workflows or web browsers via the QuickTime plugin for streaming diverse content. This extensibility was particularly valuable in the era before QuickTime natively prioritized MP4, allowing broader compatibility with legacy and cross-platform media. The relevance of third-party extensions waned following Apple's discontinuation of QuickTime 7 updates in and the shift to AVFoundation in (2019), which dropped support for legacy components. Perian ceased development in 2012, and Flip4Mac ended sales and support in 2019, rendering many extensions incompatible with modern macOS versions. Today, they serve only legacy purposes, with alternatives like FFmpeg recommended for contemporary projects due to ongoing and compatibility issues with unmaintained plug-ins.

Security and Issues

Known Vulnerabilities

QuickTime has faced numerous security vulnerabilities throughout its development, predominantly involving corruption flaws in media components such as codecs and file parsers. These issues often stemmed from inadequate bounds checking during the of files, potentially enabling remote execution or denial-of-service conditions when malicious content. Vulnerabilities were particularly common in older versions and affected cross-platform implementations, though Windows builds exhibited higher exposure due to divergent patching timelines between Apple ecosystems. A significant heap buffer overflow existed in QuickTime's handling of JP2 images prior to version 7.6.9, where malformed images could trigger memory corruption leading to application crashes or . Similarly, a heap overflow in the processing of marker sizes allowed attackers to exploit malformed JP2 files for potential code execution, as detailed in assessments from 2010. Out-of-bounds read vulnerabilities were also prevalent, including a 2015 issue identified by in the stbl atom of MOV files, where controlled data could cause undersized memory allocations and subsequent reads beyond allocated bounds, risking information leakage or further exploitation. Earlier, in 2006, the QuickSpace worm leveraged a flaw in QuickTime's support to self-propagate via social networking sites like MySpace, exploiting embedded scripts in media files for unauthorized actions. Additional flaws targeted specific codecs and parsers, such as a heap buffer overflow in H.264 encoded movie files before version 7.7.2, which could result from insufficient validation during decoding. Issues in BMP file handling and other parsers similarly exposed systems to errors, with Windows versions showing increased prevalence due to less frequent mitigations compared to macOS integrations. Post-2016, following Apple's cessation of updates for QuickTime on non-macOS platforms, certain unpatched vulnerabilities persisted, including buffer errors in RTSP stream processing that could be exploited via crafted network requests. Apple maintained a patch history with regular security releases up to version 7.7.9 in January 2016, which addressed multiple corruption issues across codecs and parsers, though zero-day exploits like those tied to broader campaigns in 2011 highlighted ongoing risks in unpatched environments.

Consequences for Users

The discontinuation of security updates for QuickTime, particularly on Windows, has exposed users to significant security risks, including remote code execution through maliciously crafted media files. In April 2016, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (CISA, formerly US-CERT) issued an alert urging Windows users to immediately uninstall QuickTime due to three zero-day vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code by tricking users into opening malformed files or visiting compromised websites. These flaws, identified by Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative (ZDI-16-176, ZDI-16-241, and ZDI-16-242), involved heap buffer overflows in QuickTime's handling of atoms like 'stco' and 'stts', enabling exploitation in the context of the logged-in user without requiring additional privileges. Additionally, QuickTime's browser plugin, which auto-handles .mov and related files in web browsers, has historically facilitated drive-by exploits; for instance, buffer overflows in RTSP processing or embedded compositions could be triggered via malicious webpages, leading to code execution or crashes in browsers like and . Since Apple ceased providing standalone security updates for QuickTime in 2016— with the last version, 7.7.9, released that year—legacy installations remain vulnerable to known and emerging threats, especially for playback of older media files. On macOS, while the QuickTime Player app is integrated into the operating system and receives indirect protections through OS-level patches, Apple has shifted developer focus to AVFoundation and AVPlayer as modern alternatives for media handling, recommending their use over legacy QuickTime frameworks to avoid deprecated components. This lack of updates has left users reliant on QuickTime for legacy content at risk, prompting recommendations to transition away from it for security and compatibility. To mitigate these issues, users are advised to migrate to open-source alternatives: for robust, cross-platform video playback supporting QuickTime formats without the vulnerabilities; FFmpeg for command-line conversion of .mov files to safer formats like MP4; and the built-in macOS Screenshot app (introduced in ) for screen recording, which replaces QuickTime's recording functionality with native, updated tools. As of 2025, QuickTime Player on fully updated macOS versions remains suitable for read-only playback of legacy files, benefiting from system-wide security enhancements like and XProtect, but it should not be used for active recording or untrusted content. On Windows, however, all versions are unsupported and pose ongoing risks, with experts continuing to recommend complete removal to prevent exploitation.

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