What Is QuickTime Used for?

QuickTime is a multimedia application developed by Apple that interacts with digital video, animation, sound and text. It is available for both the Mac and Windows operating systems and has a development tool kit that allows users to program add-ons and special features.

History

QuickTime was first released in 1991 at the World Wide Developers Conference and labeled QuickTime 1.0. It was introduced to a large audience by Ben and Jerry's to create an interactive ice cream tour.

QuickTime Player

The QuickTime player is distributed through a free download. It allows the viewers watch video in full screen mode. It can also be used for a variety of audio formats such as MP3, .WAV and AIFF.

Format

QuickTime can be identified by the .MOV extension. This a file that stores several data tracks such as audio, video and special effects. Each track is digitally encoded and referenced for playback.

Structure

The application structure with QuicQuickTimektime allows video and audio to be decoded and encoded from format to format.

Bugs

Versions of QuickTime from 4.0 to 7.3 contained a bug which compromised the security of Windows-based computers using the QuickTime player. Version 7.6 disables a user's ability to play certain games such as Civilization 4.