QuickTime 7 for Windows

Apple today delivered a preview release of . The final release is expected this summer.

With nearly a billion copies downloaded, QuickTime has an impressive legacy of developing and supporting the latest digital media open standards and is already an incredibly popular Windows technology,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “By utilizing the superb H.264 codec to deliver gorgeous video content, QuickTime 7 will change the way users experience video on their computers, mobile phones and televisions."

QuickTime 7 Player for Windows features:

• support for H.264, the state-of-the-art, worldwide video standard;
  
• support for playing up to 24 channels of audio, including 5.1 and 7.1 audio;
  
• new and improved playback controls, including jog shuttle and variable speed playback options;
  
• zero-configuration streaming for easy access to the optimal streaming experience; and
  
• live resizing for smooth playback as a user changes the size of the QuickTime 7 Player window.
  

QuickTime 7 Pro for Windows features:

• H.264 video encoding for easy creation of pristine video for any use, from 3G to HD and everything in between;
  
• support for configuring and encoding 5.1 audio;
  
• new full-screen controls for easy access to player controls in full-screen mode;
  
• native support for VBScript, enabling QuickTime workflow automation;
  
• background exporting to allow users to continue working during exports; and
  
• all-new movie settings for simple and efficient movie authoring.
  

Apple says QuickTime has had nearly a billion downloads and that QuickTime was chosen by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as the basis for the MPEG-4 file format and is at the core of the 3GPP and 3GPP2 standards. "Because of QuickTime’s strong support for standards, mobile operators using Apple’s hardware- and software-based mobile streaming solution can deliver streaming media to the broadest range of mobile handsets without incurring the cost and complexity that results when multiple proprietary technologies are deployed"

The preview release of QuickTime 7 Player for Windows is available immediately as a free download. The preview release of QuickTime 7 Pro for Windows is available from the Apple Store for $30 for a single user license. The final versions of QuickTime 7 Player and QuickTime 7 Pro for Windows will be available this summer.

by MacNN Staff