This document is intended as a general introduction to QuickTime for programmers at all levels. It is also suitable for non-programmers with a strong technical interest. It is a good starting place for readers with no prior knowledge of QuickTime.
This document contains the following sections:
“QuickTime Overview” begins with a nutshell description of QuickTime and its major uses.
“Architecture” describes the tool sets, components, and output of QuickTime.
“The QuickTime API” describes the organization of the API and how to find your way around in it.
“QuickTime Movies” describes the movie data structure and defines important terms used to describe the parts of a movie.
“Atoms, QuickTime Atoms, and Atom Containers” explains how movies are stored in files and how complex QuickTime data structures are created and passed.
“Streaming, Broadcasting, and Progressive Download” describes alternate methods of delivering movies over a network or the Internet.
“QuickTime Road Map” shows how the QuickTime documentation and API are organized and provides links to further reading after you have read the overview.
Last updated: 2005-08-11