QuickTime Image Files

QuickTime image files are intended to provide the most useful container for QuickTime compressed still images. The format uses the same atom-based structure as a QuickTime movie. There are two defined atom types: 'idsc' , which contains an image description, and 'idat' , which contains the image data. For a JPEG image, the image description atom contains a QuickTime image description describing the JPEG image's size, resolution, depth, and so on, and the image data atom contains the actual JPEG compressed data. A QuickTime image file can also contain other atoms. For example, it can contain single-fork preview atoms. Because the QuickTime image file is a single fork format, it works well in cross-platform applications. On MacOS systems, QuickTime image files are identified by the file type 'qtif' . Apple recommends using the filename extension .QIF to identify QuickTime image files on other platforms.

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