.MOV

Introduction

MOV is the movie file of Apple’s QuickTime, first released in 1991. It is a container for video, audio, timecode and text tracks, and is the usual file written by iPhones, Final Cut Pro and many professional cameras. It often carries H.264, HEVC or ProRes video.

The ISO base media file format, and so MP4, was based on QuickTime, which is why the two look so alike. Most software that reads MP4 also reads MOV.

Structure

A MOV file is a sequence of atoms, the QuickTime name for boxes. Each atom starts with a 32-bit big-endian size and a four-letter type, and many atoms contain further atoms. A size of 1 means a 64-bit size follows the type.

Newer files start with an ftyp atom whose brand is qt (with two spaces). Older files have no ftyp and start straight with moov, mdat, wide or free. The moov atom describes the movie and its tracks, with sample tables giving the position of every frame, and mdat holds the media itself.

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