Format
Quicktime
Summary
- Name
- Quicktime
- Identifiers
-
- MIME: video/quicktime
- PUID: x-fmt/384
- Format type
- Video
- Disclosure
- Full
- Description
- The QuickTime file format is a format for storing multimedia content, principally video, developed by Apple. The basic data unit in a QuickTime file is the atom. Each atom contains size and type information along with its data. The size field indicates the number of bytes in the atom, including the size and type fields. The type field specifies the type of data stored in the atom and, by implication, the format of that data. Atoms are hierarchical in nature. That is, one atom can contain one or more other atoms of varying types. For example, a movie atom contains one track atom for each track in the movie. The track atoms, in turn, contain one or more media atoms each, along with other atoms that define other track and movie characteristics. This hierarchical structure of atoms is referred to as a containment hierarchy. A QuickTime file is simply a collection of atoms. QuickTime does not impose any rules about the order of these atoms. Apple discontinued the support of Windows Media Player in the year 2016. Windows Media Player thus only supports file format versions 2.0, or earlier, of QuickTime Movie files. Newer QuickTime Movie files can be played on Windows with VLC Media Player.
- Format encoding
- Binary
- Note
- https://support.apple.com/kb/DL837?locale=en_US
- File extensions
-
mov,qtm - Submitted by
- Digital Preservation Department / The National Archives
- Developed by
- Apple Computer, Inc.
- Supported by
- Apple Computer, Inc.
Relationships
- Has lower priority than
Internal signatures
QuickTime variant1
- Description
- Offset 4: moov{0-4096}(mvhd|cmov|rmra)
Byte sequences
- Min Frag Length
- Absolute from BOF
- Offset
- 4
- Max offset
- 4
- Byte Sequence
6D6F6F76{0-4096}(6D766864|636D6F76|726D7261)- Endianness
- None
QuickTime variant2
- Description
- Offset 4: mdat*moov{0-4096}(mvhd|cmov|rmra) Variants 2-8 cover the following pattern, which would be desirable to consolidate but is currently not possible due to limitations of the PRONOM signature engine: (mdat|cmov|ftypqt |pnot|skip|free|wide)*moov{0-4096}(mvhd|cmov|rmra) (6D646174|636D6F76|6674797071742020|706E6F74|736B6970|66726565|77696465)*6D6F6F76{0-4096}(6D766864|636D6F76|726D7261)
- Provenance
- (mdat|cmov|ftypqt |pnot|skip|free|wide)*moov*(mvhd|cmov|rmra)
Byte sequences
- Min Frag Length
- Absolute from BOF
- Offset
- 4
- Max offset
- 4
- Byte Sequence
6D646174*6D6F6F76{0-4096}(6D766864|636D6F76|726D7261)- Endianness
- None
QuickTime variant3
- Description
- Offset 4: cmov*moov{0-4096}(mvhd|cmov|rmra)
Byte sequences
- Min Frag Length
- Absolute from BOF
- Offset
- 4
- Max offset
- 4
- Byte Sequence
636D6F76*6D6F6F76{0-4096}(6D766864|636D6F76|726D7261)- Endianness
- None
QuickTime variant4
- Description
- Offset 4: 'ftypqt ' only - assumption is that format is QuickTime if FTYP define as 'qt ' therefore no need to seek additional MOOV atom.
Byte sequences
- Min Frag Length
- Absolute from BOF
- Offset
- 4
- Max offset
- 4
- Byte Sequence
6674797071742020- Endianness
- None
QuickTime variant5
- Description
- Offset 4: pnot*moov{0-4096}(mvhd|cmov|rmra)
Byte sequences
- Min Frag Length
- Absolute from BOF
- Offset
- 4
- Max offset
- 4
- Byte Sequence
706E6F74*6D6F6F76{0-4096}(6D766864|636D6F76|726D7261)- Endianness
- None
QuickTime variant6
- Description
- Offset 4: skip*moov{0-4096}(mvhd|cmov|rmra)
Byte sequences
- Min Frag Length
- Absolute from BOF
- Offset
- 4
- Max offset
- 4
- Byte Sequence
736B6970*6D6F6F76{0-4096}(6D766864|636D6F76|726D7261)- Endianness
- None
QuickTime variant7
- Description
- Offset 4: free*moov{0-4096}(mvhd|cmov|rmra)
Byte sequences
- Min Frag Length
- Absolute from BOF
- Offset
- 4
- Max offset
- 4
- Byte Sequence
66726565*6D6F6F76{0-4096}(6D766864|636D6F76|726D7261)- Endianness
- None
QuickTime variant8
- Description
- Offset 4: wide*moov{0-4096}(mvhd|cmov|rmra)
Byte sequences
- Min Frag Length
- Absolute from BOF
- Offset
- 4
- Max offset
- 4
- Byte Sequence
77696465*6D6F6F76{0-4096}(6D766864|636D6F76|726D7261)- Endianness
- None
Changelog
-
V96
- Release date
- 21 January 2020
-
Updated
Quicktime: Paragraph added to description with regards to support and link added to the notes section. Submitted by Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen.
-
V93
- Release date
- 30 November 2017
-
Updated
Quicktime: For Quicktime signature variant 4, dropped the requirement to find the 'moov' atom when the value of the 'ftyp' atom appears at offset 4 as 'qt '. Request raised in Siegfried GitHub Issues tracker.
-
V86
- Release date
- 27 July 2016
-
Updated
Quicktime: Simplified signature.
-
V74
- Release date
- 31 March 2014
-
Updated
Quicktime: Improved specificity of BOF signature sequence offset.
-
V67
- Release date
- 26 February 2013
-
Added signature
Quicktime: Further signature variation developed through PRONOM Research.
-
V66
- Release date
- 18 December 2012
-
Updated
Quicktime: Improved signature through PRONOM Research.
-
V62
- Release date
- 28 August 2012
-
Updated
Quicktime: Existing signature refined through PRONOM Research.