M4V Vs. QuickTime
M4V and QuickTime are Apple products. But while M4V is a proprietary digital video format, QuickTime is the media player that is distributed by the software developer. While they are essentially different types of technology, M4V files and QuicKTime can overlap each other in terms of usage.
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Technology
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Like all digital videos, M4V files are generated through a process known as compression. During compression, multiple streams of media are digitized and merged into a single file. Any program that can read an M4V file is equipped with the necessary components to decode its audio and video tracks. As a media player, QuickTime is specialized to open and stream digital audio, digital video and images. Users can manage the performance of these files in QuickTime with the playback commands on the control bar.
Nativity
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Apple developed the M4V format especially for iTunes. The multimedia container is used to distribute episodes of free video prodcasts as well as commercial media that is retailed through the iTunes Store -- TV series, movies and music videos. And since it is integrated with iTunes, the format can be uploaded directly onto the iPod, iPhone and iPad devices. M4V files can also be loaded into QuickTime and third-party applications such as VLC and RealPlayer. But although the M4V format is supported by QuickTime, Apple engineered MOV as the native digital video format for the application.
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Availability
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The M4V file can be encoded within iTunes and it is supported as an output format by numerous video conversion applications such as MPEG Streamclip and iWisoft Free Video Converter. It can also be exported from QuickTime Pro, the licensed version of the media player that enables editing, recording and conversion features. Although QuickTime Pro is a commercial application, the basic edition of the media player is included to the Mac OS X software suite. The software is also distributed in a version for Windows.
Limitations
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The M4V files that are sold through the iTunes Store are typically encoded with Apple’s FairPlay DRM copy-protection. This is a proprietary method of digital encryption that prevents the unlawful duplication of media. While un-protected M4V files can be opened in QuickTime, encrypted versions cannot be. This protected material can only be streamed within iTunes under the account that purchased the content.
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