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Technical Q&As
QuickTime is Apple's cross-platform multimedia technology for creating and delivering video, sound, animation, graphics, text, interactivity, and music. QuickTime supports dozens of file and compression formats for images, video, and audio, including ISO-compliant MPEG-4 video and AAC audio. QuickTime applications can run on Mac OS X and all major versions of Microsoft Windows. QuickTime content plays on Mac OS and Windows computers and many handheld devices, and can be served by progressive download from any web server or as realtime streams from streaming servers on all major operating systems.

QuickTime Resources
A guided introduction and learning path for developers new to QuickTime.   Essential information for developers using QuickTime.   Descriptions of the programming interface elements for QuickTime.
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QTML, c2pstr and Pascal strings (HTML) ()
QA1112: Describes how to avoid headaches when dealing with Pascal to C string conversion with QTML.
QuickTime for Windows 2002-01-21
Quality of QuickTime video effects (HTML)
QA1089: Describes some of the factors affecting QuickTime video effects quality.
Compression & Decompression, Video Effects & Transitions 2001-10-26
QuickTime & Noise Problems (HTML)
QTPC02: Talks about ways to reduce noise in movies created with the CinePak codec.
Compression & Decompression 1995-05-01
QuickTime & PutMovieIntoDataFork, Offsets (HTML)
QTMTB34: Explains restrictions on moving movie data around in a file after creation; also gives work arounds.
Movie Basics 1995-05-01
QuickTime .qtx/.qtr/.qt/.mov files defined (HTML)
QTW99: Definitions for the QuickTime for Windows .qtx/.qtr/.qt/.mov files.
QuickTime for Windows 2000-09-05
QuickTime 6.4 & AvailabilityMacros.h on Mac OS X 10.2.x (HTML)
QA1316: Fixing compilation issues when upgrading to QuickTime 6.4 on Mac OS X 10.2.x systems.
Carbon, Cocoa 2003-10-21
QuickTime and Carbon Events (HTML)
QA1090: Discusses how to ensure smooth movie playback when using Carbon Events in an application.
Design Guidelines, Movie Basics 2001-10-26
QuickTime DirectDraw Surfaces (HTML)
QTW96: How to make QuickTime 4 for Windows draw onto a surface using your custom DirectDraw object.
QuickTime for Windows 1999-11-01
QuickTime Effects - How to set up parameter description values when using kParameterTypeDataImage (HTML) ()
QA1326: Setting up an effect parameter description when using kParameterTypeDataImage as the parameter data type.
Video Effects & Transitions 2003-12-09
QuickTime Error -2127 qtNetworkAlreadyAllocatedErr Explained (HTML) ()
QA1244: QuickTime qtNetworkAlreadyAllocatedErr error code (-2127) occurs when the user's Connection Speed preference setting is too slow.
Transport & Delivery 2003-03-20
QuickTime for Windows resource files (HTML) ()
QA1132: Describes resource file extensions supported by QuickTime for Windows.
QuickTime for Windows 2002-04-08
QuickTime Media Editing (HTML) ()
QA1110: Explains the term "Media" as used in QuickTime and how it relates to media editing APIs.
Movie Basics 2002-01-16
QuickTime movies require a valid graphics port (HTML)
QA1345: The QuickTime Movie Toolbox requires a valid graphics port for all movies.
Movie Basics 2004-03-19
QuickTime Music Architecture Header Update (HTML) ()
QTMA06: Explains missing and changed items in QuickTime 2.5.
Music & Audio 1996-08-21
QuickTime Preview Behavior (HTML) ()
QTMCC10: Describes the expected behavior of the create/update preview button in the SFPGetFilePreview dialog.
QuickTime for Windows 1996-11-27
QuickTime Sound (HTML)
QTMRF04: Explains what the sowt and the twos format is in QuickTime.
QuickTime for Windows 1995-05-01
QuickTime Supported YUV Pixel Formats (HTML)
QA1060: Describes which YUV pixel formats are supported by QuickTime.
Carbon, Compression & Decompression, QuickTime Component Creation 2001-07-19
QuickTime Toolbox GetMovieTime Call (HTML)
QTMTB38: Provides the calls to change the current time and to reposition a movie to play from the start.
Movie Basics 1995-05-01
Retrieving Audio from QuickTime Files (HTML)
QTMTB30: Describes how to retrieve audio from QuickTime files in 1 second chunks.
Import & Export, Movie Basics 1995-05-01
Sample code for allocating an amount of dictionary space (HTML)
HW71: Discusses the allocation and the setting of memory for Dictionary space in Open Firmware.
Hardware 1999-10-11
Saving changes to modified movies (HTML)
QTMTB60: Describes how to ensure any changes made to a movie are saved.
Movie Basics 2000-09-05
Saving playback hints in a Movie (HTML) ()
QA1194: Demonstrates how to use the SetTrackLoadSettings function to save the hintsHighQuality playback hint in a movie.
Movie Basics 2002-09-04
Saving QuickTime Movie Files (HTML) ()
QTMTB47: Explains a few complications one might face in creating and saving QuickTime movie files.
Movie Basics 1997-01-31
Sequence Grabber - Determining the capture resolution of an IIDC device (HTML)
QA1403: Discusses how to determine the resolution of a captured image from an IIDC device
Carbon, Hardware, Movie Creation 2005-01-06
Sequence Grabber - Ensuring the SG TimeBase is being driven by the Sound Clock. (HTML)
QA1314: Ensuring the Sequence Grabber TimeBase is being driven by the Sound Clock when recording audio and video.
Movie Creation 2003-10-24
Sequence Grabber - How do I save user settings as CFPreferences? (HTML)
QA1286: Saving UserData settings returned from the Sequence Grabber as CFPreferences.
Movie Creation 2003-09-04
Sequence Grabber - How often should I call SGIdle? (HTML)
QA1349: This Q&A discusses how often SGIdle should be called when capturing using the Sequence Grabber.
Movie Creation 2004-04-06
Sequence Grabber - Setting the sound channel play through state (HTML)
QA1303: Setting the Sound play though state when previewing and recording a sound channel with the Sequence Grabber.
Movie Creation 2003-09-23
Sequence Grabber - Using the SGDataProc for Sound (HTML)
QA1348: This Q&A discusses how you can use a Sound SGChannel with the Sequence Grabber DataProc
Movie Creation 2004-04-06
Sequence Grabber - Video capture with multiple IIDC cameras (HTML)
QA1365: Discusses factors which influence the number of IIDC cameras that can simultaniously be used for capture.
Hardware, Movie Creation 2004-08-25
Sequence Grabber Source, Video, and Channel Bounds (HTML) ()
QA1250: Explains the QuickTime Sequence Grabber's relationship between the Source, Video, and Channel Bounds when capturing video.
Movie Creation 2003-07-16
SetSoundMediaBalance balance parameter clarification (HTML) ()
QTMTB49: Describes correct parameter values for the SetSoundMediaBalance routine.
Movie Basics, Music & Audio 2004-12-01
Setting a Movie's Clipping Region (HTML)
QTMTB23: Explains why ShowMoviePoster doesn't honor the clipping region when clipped to the cell size.
Movie Basics, Movie Internals 1995-05-01
Setting Export Quality (HTML)
QTMCC13: Demonstrates how to change the compression factor when exporting a JPEG file.
Import & Export 1999-12-06
Setting Sequence Grabber Sound Input Device Driver Parameters (HTML) ()
QA1204: Setting sound input device driver parameters for QuickTime sequence grabber audio channels.
Movie Basics, Movie Creation, Music & Audio 2002-10-25
Setting the movie background color (HTML) ()
QTMTB53: Describes how to apply a background color to an entire movie.
Movie Basics 1999-08-16
Setting the option button in the ICM dialog (HTML)
QTMCC02: Describes how your codec can display an extra Options button in the Standard Compression dialog.
QuickTime Component Creation 1995-06-01
Setting the preferred CMM programatically? (HTML)
QA1086: Uses the NCMConcatProfileSet structure to specify the CMM to be used to make the CMWorldRef with the NCWConcatColorWorld function.
Graphics & Imaging 2001-10-24
SGSetSettings unexpected results (HTML)
QTMTB55: Explains why subsequent calls to the SGSetSettings can fail after the first call to SGSetSettings completed successfully.
Movie Basics, Movie Creation 1999-10-11
The similarity field in ImageCodecBandCompress and Key Frames (HTML) ()
QA1109: Discusses the similarity field of the CodecCompressParams structure used in ImageCodecBandCompress to implement key framing during compression.
QuickTime Component Creation 2002-01-16
spatialQuality Values with Lossy Compression (HTML) ()
QA1126: Describes how the spatialQuality value reflects the setting of lossy compressed images like JPEG.
Compression & Decompression 2002-03-12
Specifying Chunk Sizes (HTML)
QTPC08: Discusses the meaning of a QuickTime movie atom's chunk value.
Design Guidelines, Movie Internals 1995-08-01
Stepping Through QuickTime-Movie (HTML)
QTMTB28: Describes how to get the first frame of a movie using GetMovieNextInterestingTime.
Movie Basics, Movie Internals 1995-05-01
Track Editing (HTML)
QTMCC17: Discusses different APIs used to edit tracks in QuickTime movies.
Movie Basics 2000-09-22
Unwanted Audio with DV Capture (HTML) ()
QA1105: Explains why audio is captured from a DV source even though you may not want to.
Movie Creation 2002-01-14
Using a QuickTime time base callback to detect when a movie has stopped (HTML) ()
QA1282: Using a QuickTime time base callback (NewCallBack) to detect when a movie has stopped.
Movie Basics 2003-08-12
Using cmpWantsRegisterMessage not recommended on Mac OS X (HTML) ()
QA1192: Describes why using the cmpWantsRegisterMessage flag is not recommended on Mac OS X.
QuickTime Component Creation 2003-03-11
Using Custom Color Tables (HTML) ()
QTW93: Use a custom 236-color table for 8-bit movies with QuickTime 3 for Windows.
QuickTime for Windows 1998-09-21
Using Mac Toolbox routines Under Windows 98/95/NT (HTML) ()
QTW87: Some Macintosh Toolbox functions are available with QuickTime 3 for Windows.
QuickTime for Windows 1998-09-21
Using Mac-style Resources (HTML) ()
QTW86: Using Mac-style resources in a Windows 98/95/NT or DLL using QuickTime 3 for Windows FSpOpenResFile function.
QuickTime for Windows 1998-09-21
Using MovieExportSetSampleDescription to specify the format of exported data (HTML)
QTMTB59: Describes using the ConvertMovieToFile routine to export a WAV audio-only movie to an AIFF file using a specific compressor.
Import & Export, Movie Basics, Music & Audio 2000-09-05
Using Navigation Services to filter QuickTime files (HTML) ()
QA1152: Using the CanQuickTimeOpenFile function in a Navigation Services filter to display files that QuickTime can open.
Movie Basics 2002-07-15
Using QTSetAtomData (HTML) ()
QA1231: Explains what QTSetAtomData does with the data passed into it.
Carbon, Movie Basics 2003-01-14
Using QuickTime to access MP3 ID3 Tags (HTML) ()
QA1135: Demonstrates how to extract User Data from QuickTime Movies.
Movie Basics 2002-04-11
Using SetMovieGWorld to draw to the window back buffer (HTML)
QA1043: Explains how to draw into the back buffer with SetMovieGWorld.
Movie Basics 2001-06-26
Using the QuickTime for Java libraries on OS X (HTML) ()
QA1058: Where to locate the QTJava.zip file for inclusion in your java/javac classpath.
Java 2002-04-08
Using Windows GDI for all drawing (HTML)
QTW98: Using the Windows Graphics Device Interface (GDI) for all drawing under QuickTime for Windows.
QuickTime for Windows 2000-09-05
Video Output Components - Implementing QTVideoOutputGetIndSoundOutput on Mac OS X (HTML) ()
QA1206: Describes how to support the QTVideoOutputGetIndSoundOutput function in Mac OS X.
QuickTime Component Creation 2002-10-29
Video Output Components - QTVideoOutputGetIndImageDecompressor (HTML) ()
QA1226: Discusses the QTVideoOutputGetIndImageDecompressor call.
QuickTime Component Creation 2003-01-03
Viewing multi-page PDF files (HTML) ()
QA1247: How to draw each page of a multi-page PDF document using the QuickTime movie importers.
Import & Export 2003-03-05
What depth should I put in an Image Description? (HTML) ()
QA1183: Describes how to select the correct value for the depth field of an image description.
Compression & Decompression 2002-08-15
What is SetMovieDefaultDataRef? (HTML) ()
QTMTB48: Describes the routine SetMovieDefaultDataRef and includes sample code showing how to use it.
Movie Basics 1997-03-14
What is the "dump" word and how do I use it? (HTML)
HW68: Describes the function of the Open Firmware word "dump" and how it can be used.
Hardware 1999-10-11
What numeric base is the default for the Open Firmware user interface? (HTML)
HW65: Describes how the default numeric base used by the Open Firmware user interface is hexadecimal.
Hardware 1999-10-11
When to use PCMCIA, PC Card, and CardBus (HTML)
HW77: Explains the differences between PCMCIA, PC Card, and CardBus.
Hardware 1999-11-15
Where do QuickTime extension files reside? (HTML)
QTW100: Describes where to place QuickTime extension files on Win 95/98/2000/NT systems.
Design Guidelines, QuickTime for Windows 2000-09-05
Why does my identity matrix look strange? (HTML) ()
QA1227: Discusses the MatrixRecord structure and QuadToQuadMatrix function.
Graphics & Imaging, Movie Basics 2003-01-15