Introduction To QuickTime Overview

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.

Organization of This Document

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.