Introductions to QuickTime

Overview

This anthology presents several documents that introduce QuickTime. They are collected here to give software designers and programmers a variety of technical viewpoints. Click on their names to view these documents:

• QuickTime Quick Start gives a concise overview of QuickTime. It includes a list of frequently-asked questions. This is a good place to start reading if you are new to QuickTime.
• Introduction to QuickTime is the original introduction to QuickTime from Inside Macintosh. The newer features of QuickTime are not discussed, but this remains the most complete introduction to QuickTime concepts, architecture, and tools.
• Introduction to Movies follows "Introduction to QuickTime" and describes how movies are put together, with discussion of time base, movies, tracks, and media. Read this section if you are new to QuickTime and want more details.
• About Movies directly follows "Introduction to Movies" and provides technical details on how movies are put together, with hands-on discussion of tracks, media, spatial properties, sound, and the nuts and bolts of opening and editing movie files. You should read this section for a solid technical introduction to these topics.
• What's New in QuickTime 4 introduces all of the features added to QuickTime since version 1.6 (up to version 4.02). Programmers familiar with QuickTime prior to version 3.0 should start here.
• Introduction for the Windows Programmer serves as a general introduction to QuickTime for the Windows programmer, focusing on issues that the Windows programmer needs to be aware of. The QuickTime for Windows API for release 3.0 and later is quite different from preceding versions of QuickTime. If you are a Windows programmer new to QuickTime, you should read the other introductory material listed in this chapter first. At that point, you may wish to read the entire QuickTime for Windows Programmers, then refer to the rest of the QuickTime documentation as needed for reference.
• Introduction to Components describes what components are and how they are used by applications.
• QuickTime Component Overview describes some of the main QuickTime component types, including diagrams that show the role each component plays during typical operations.