QuickTime is "a package of system-level code, with C and Pascal programming interfaces, that higher-level software can use to control time-based data"; it supports oodles of different formats of movies, audio, images, animations, etc. It it made by Apple, and is available for Mac and Windows. It includes a player application which is a competitor of sorts to RealPlayer, Microsoft Media Player, etc.

	* http://www.apple.com/quicktime/
	* http://developer.apple.com/documentation/QuickTime/quicktime.html

QuickTime was the first major attempt ever at storing digital video in a not-too-terribly proprietary format. It has been around since at least 1991 ("Friends of QuickTime" is celebrating QuickTime's 10th anniversary.  See http://www.friendsoftime.org/).

QuickTime also has a very nice timing kernel inside of it. There were reports that a miller was using QuickTime to control the milling machines.

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CategorySoftwareTool