QuickTime

Quicktime is both a file format and piece of viewing software. The file format acts as a wrapper for a variety of video/audio/image types. The player is freely available and widely installed. This makes QuickTime (the file format) a good choice for distributing the multi-media output of various visualization tools. For example QuickTime movies may consist of scenes created using 3-D applications like Bryce.

To Order

The Quicktime Player can be downloaded directly from Apple .

Cost

The Quicktime Player is freely available. Quicktime Pro which allows for editing and format conversion is $30. Existing quicktime player installations can be upgraded to Quicktime Pro by ordering an activation key from the Apple website.

Platform Support

Quicktime is available for Windows and Mac (OS 9/X).

Data Formats

Quicktime supports a wide variety of standard video, audio and still image formats, including the Quicktime Movie format. A complete list of supported formats can be found here.

Integrating with other Tools

Many tools either support integration with the quicktime player (e.g. as a web browser plug-in) or make 'behind-the-scenes' use of quicktime libraries to display media. In many cases a graphic or animation created with other software can be exported to a standard format (e.g. as a quicktime movie file) and the end users can view the output with their local copy of the quicktime player.

Data Analysis

As Quicktime's strength is as a multimedia viewer it's place in the data analysis realm is largely in exploring data rendered elsewhere and exported in a quicktime viewable file format.

Output Options

Quicktime Pro can convert between many multimedia formats. Again refer to the Apple site for more details.

Usability

The Quicktime Player interface is very simple and straightforward. Converting amongst file formats is simple in procedure but may require some detailed knowledge of the formats involved to obtain good results.

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