Apple® QuickTime® uses a digital file format called MOV (.mov). MOV is called a container format because it is capable of containing content of different types and formats, including but not limited to audio, video, images, text, and sprite, each of which is stored on a different track, but has been created so that developers can also extend it to contain other types of media. MP4 is a short name for part 14 of the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG-4) standard (.mp4) and for all MPEG-4 technology, including .m4v, an MPEG-4 file type. Since m4v is the Apple® file format used on a variety of devices, including iPhone®, iPod®, and Apple TV®, it may be useful to convert MOV to MP4 to play the movie on an iPod®, for example, while converted to .mp4 may be desirable for posting to online sites such as VIMEO®.
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Many different file types can be imported into a MOV file. These include AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format), AVI (Audio Video Interleaved), AU (Audio Unit), MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MP3, QuickTime® movies, WAV (Audio File Format waveform), etc. However, no matter what type of file a MOV starts with, converting MOV to MP4, whether it’s .mv4 or .mp4, is a breeze with QuickTime® 7 Pro or other video converters.
The key to converting MOV files to MP4 with QuickTime® 7Pro is understanding the “Export” menu of options. To get started, open QuickTime® 7 Pro. Use File > Open File to open a .mov file. Then navigate to File > Export. A dialog called ‘Save exported file as…’ will open. In the top drop down menu called ‘Export:’ you will find a variety of options. Choosing ‘Movie to iPhone’ or ‘Move to iPod’ will prepare an .mv4 conversion, while choosing ‘Movie to MPEG-4’ will prepare an .mp4 conversion.
In either case, there will be an options button to the right of the “Export” dropdown where you can choose other options about video, audio, and streaming by choosing the individual tabs for each of these items. Video format options include video format, data rate, image size, frame rate, and keyframes. Audio format options include audio format, data rate, channels, output sample rate, and encoding quality. A summary of the results is provided at the bottom of the dialog for convenience so that you can see the options for all tabs while looking at any individual tab.
If you don’t need so many options, you can quickly and easily convert MOV to MP4 in iTunes® if you have version 6.0.7 or later. Start by opening iTunes®. Choose ‘Movies’ in ‘Library’ and select the MOV file you want to convert. Go to the Advanced menu and choose ‘Convert selection to iPod’ and the conversion will start immediately. It simplifies things, breaks things down in one way, or prevents you from doing the full range of options offered in QuickTime®.
If you want to convert MOV to MP4 with other software, you can find free or paid software to do it. The steps will likely be very similar to the steps performed in QuickTime® 7 Pro. Three possible differences are the ability to drag files into the converter interface instead of opening them, the editing features, and the need to specify the original file format.
