#Video file formats for apple mac code#
#Video file formats for apple mac series#

In order to preserve sufficient information about these legacy components for existing QuickTime files that include them, deprecated elements are marked with a note at the top of their section in this revision of the QuickTime File Format Specification. Because of this, certain elements of QuickTime technology may become deprecated over time. QuickTime is a rich technology that continues to evolve as new practices and needs arise in audio/visual media. If you are writing an application that parses QuickTime files, you should recognize that there may be non-movie data in the files. QuickTime files are used to store QuickTime movies, as well as other data. For example, this book uses “32-bit signed integer” rather than “long” to define a 32-bit integer value. Furthermore, to the extent possible, data types are described generically. Similarly, field names are presented in English rather than as programming language tags. As a result, the file format information is presented in a tabular manner, rather than in coded data structures.

QuickTime files are described in general, rather than how they are supported on a specific computing platform or in a specific programming language. These include such topics as the handling of metadata when importing files into QuickTime, random access, and the QuickTime Image File format.

#Video file formats for apple mac series#

Finally, a number of related topics are described in a series of appendixes.

#Video file formats for apple mac code#

This is followed by a series of code examples for manipulating a QuickTime file using the QuickTime API. This document begins with an overview of QuickTime atoms, then presents the structure of the QuickTime file format in detail. Note that this version of the document supersedes all previous versions of the QuickTime File Format Specification. The QuickTime File Format Specification assumes that you are familiar with the basic concepts of digital video and audio, as well as with programming QuickTime and the QuickTime API. That said, not all kinds of QuickTime files can be created without the information presented here. These functions serve to insulate developers from the low-level details of operation. QuickTime itself provides a number of high-level functions that you can use to create and manipulate QuickTime files, without requiring you to understand the actual file format. Unknown objects can simply be ignored or skipped, allowing considerable forward compatibility as new object types are introduced. The file format is object-oriented, consisting of a flexible collection of objects that is easily parsed and easily expanded. The QTFF is an ideal format for the exchange of digital media between devices, applications, and operating systems, because it can be used to describe almost any media structure. The QuickTime File Format (QTFF) is designed to accommodate the many kinds of data that need to be stored in order to work with digital multimedia. Next Introduction to QuickTime File Format Specification