7 ms·

Ask HN: It's 2021 and QuickTime still doesn't export MP4. What is going on?

• deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
• cable2600 5y ago
  I remember when you had to register Quicktime for a code to unlock features in it.
  • nicwolff 5y ago
    I remember when Quicktime Player was a pretty capable video editor...
    • TheRealPomax 5y ago
      I remember when Quicktime worked on Windows.
      • _hyn3 5y ago
        I remember when Apple loved its users.
• that_guy_iain 5y ago
  Honestly, do you expect Apple to change from their lock-in ways?
  • browningstreet 5y ago
    Since the iPhone can do it, as OP wrote, not sure your point is relevant.
• pluc 5y ago
  2021 is the year .mov finally breaks out
  • DaiPlusPlus 5y ago
    The *.mov file format is the same as MPEG-4's container format (in fact, MPEG-4's container is intentionally based on QuickTime's *.mov) and is even standardized as an ISO spec: "ISO/IEC base media file format": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO/IEC_base_media_file_format https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO/IEC_base_media_file_format + https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QuickTime_File_Format https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QuickTime_File_Format ...and Apple has been using MPEG-4 AVC and HEVC for at least a decade now, so I don't understand what the OP is complaining about: QuickTime *.mov files are MPEG-4 container files, which usually contain MPEG-4 AVC or MPEG-4 HEVC streams. Other people are reporting the same problem: the other media software can't read Apple's screen-recording files, so I'm assuming this actually means that Apple's screen-recordings are saved using a codec other than MPEG-4 AVC or HEVC, but still in an MPEG-4 container. So for this conversation to continue, we need to know what codec/video-stream-format is actually being used (I don't have a Mac ready to experiment right now, sorry). ----- UPDATE: After some research, I think that macOS screen-recordings are made using Apple's ProRes video coding, and then saved inside a QuickTime (aka MPEG-4) Container. ProRes is very different to AVC, HEVC, etc, which explains why you need to transcode it to do anything useful with it. ------- UPDATE 2: So screen recordings don't use ProRes by default, they use AVC (but what profile?), so I'm unsure why so many other programs and websites reject those files because, theoretically, there should be no problem in processing them, unless the site was written by someone who doesn't understand how video files work...
    • reimertz 5y ago
      Oh, interesting! I guess the reason why I've assumed somethings off is because both Google Drive, Youtube etc. seems to take 10x longer do encode MOV files vs. raw MP4. So you are saying there shouldn't be a difference then?
      • DaiPlusPlus 5y ago
• Taylor_OD 5y ago
  Is it being worked on? If its not being worked on its not going to happen. Find another tool. It's silly but it seems like its not a priority.
  • cheschire 5y ago
    I don’t know much about this but wiki says QTkit was deprecated and superseded by AVFoundation Edit: Not QuickTime, qtkit. QuickTime itself hasn’t seen an update in two years but isn’t considered deprecated I guess.
    • jeromegv 5y ago
      The framework/API, but the app is very much not deprecated as it is still bundled with the OS.
• awezsdg 5y ago
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• cpr 5y ago
  Can't you just use a modern screen recording tool like Screenflow?
• jwoldan 5y ago
  iMovie can export to mp4, so I don't think it's an attempt at lock-in. I would guess it's just that like a lot of the macOS utilities, QuickTime gets very little development focus as of late.
  • rchaud 5y ago
    Keynote can export to MP4 as well.
• afandian 5y ago
  I'm still bitter that they removed variable speed and variable pitch playback. It was invaluable, and there was no reason to remove it.
  • tomaskafka 5y ago
    One reason to remove the features is if they started supoorting another format (HEVC? ProRes?) for which thir decoder doesn't yet support these operations?
    • afandian 5y ago
      Even if that were the true motivation (which I don't believe), there's a standard UI paradigm for that: grey out the control if it doesn't apply. I'm more inclined to believe that it was a UX designer with a misplaced drive to simplify at all costs.
  • ashearer 5y ago
    On Catalina at least, variable-speed constant-pitch playback is still available, just hidden. Option-click on the fast-forward or rewind buttons to access it. It jumps in increments of 0.1x.
    • afandian 5y ago
      Thanks, I didn't know that! It doesn't let you go slower than 1x speed though, which was the useful thing. I used to use it to learn tunes by playing half speed.
    • seba_dos1 5y ago
      macOS is full of things that randomly pop up if you click something while holding a button. That UX is so hilariously bad it makes features hard to find even when you already know they are there!
• protomyth 5y ago
  It seems like several Mac OS utilities get no or negative attention. QuickTime, Image Capture, Disk Utility, and the Finder itself are broken or are missing features. I doubt Apple will repair them.
  • alexfromapex 5y ago
    Was just thinking this about their Photos and Music apps on Catalina. Pretty bad UX but they’ve had plenty of time to fix them and haven’t. I guess snooping through data after customers throw them loads of cash for their devices is the new business model.
  • gogopuppygogo 5y ago
    The Disk utility downgrade is still annoying to this day. The worst example of neglect though imho is how finder still doesn’t have an option to cut when you right click. How hard would it be to add that so folks don’t have to learn a keyboard shortcut?
    • arm 5y ago
      Well, technically it does. After copying an item, when you right-click where you want to paste it to, if you hold the ⌥ (option) key, the 'Paste Item' option in the contextual menu will change to 'Move Item Here' (effectively making it into a Cut & Paste).
    • protomyth 5y ago
      Finder is also broken for AppleScript as it doesn't refresh itself when AppleScript makes changes. Plus, its refresh logic (probably related) is slow.
  • jagger27 5y ago
    Say what you will about Disk Utility. I’d still pick it 10 times out of 10 over Windows Disk Management. It’s still unchanged in Windows 11.
    • snazz 5y ago
• weavie 5y ago
  It's open source, just contribute a patch. Oh wait..
• throwaway2021_9 5y ago
  1) File > Export as > Save 2) Change file extension .mov -> .mp4
• lostgame 5y ago
  For years I kept QuickTime 7 Pro around after X came out. For the record, you can just say save -> change to MP4. But no, QuickTime X is hot garbage; and pretty much represents the kind of downgrade we got from iMovie HD to iMovie 7/X, or the similarly awful FCP transition.
• carom 5y ago
  Safari on iPhone also does not play webm files.
  • syspec 5y ago
    This is false
    • rchaud 5y ago
      Partial support with some pretty heavy caveats compared to Chrome and Firefox. In this case most developers wouldn't bother w/ WEBM and serve every device the MP4 file instead. https://www.caniuse.com/webm https://www.caniuse.com/webm
• q-rews 5y ago
  Honestly screw mp4. They put the header at the end of the file so you can’t stream it unless its specifically made for the web. I can watch most video files “while downloading” except mp4. It’s nonsense.
  • Denvercoder9 5y ago
    MP4 also supports putting the MOOV atom at the beginning of the file (which allows to start watching while downloading), it's up to the encoder to place it there. The reason it's often at the end of the file, is that the MOOV atom is variable-length and the whole stream needs to be processed to generate it. Thus, placing it at the end is faster.
    • q-rews 5y ago
      Right, that’s the problem, it should just never happen. Hence the screw mp4
      • Denvercoder9 5y ago
        There are lots of usecases where random access is guaranteed and spending the extra time moving the atom to the front isn't worth it. Your personal needs aren't representative of those of the rest of the world.
• nakodari 5y ago
  I can understand your pain. Years ago when I started a side project, I faced a similar issue with Quicktime so I decided to just build a screen recorder which exports to .mp4 by default. It saved me a lot of time and headache.
• mrtweetyhack 5y ago
  Internet Explorer can
• rendall 5y ago
  With sincere love and respect to my Mac-using colleagues, this is a common genre of late: "How can Apple be so terrible to us who love them so much?" As I similarly say to those who engage in lengthy, anguished discourse about how it's possible that a loving God could allow such utter randomness and chaos in the world: "There is a simple answer that completely resolves this conundrum if you were but willing to hear it"
  • cdiamand 5y ago
    So, is the answer that Apple doesn't exist, or that Apple doesn't love us?
    • rendall 5y ago
      Left as an exercise for the downvoters ;)
    • Cipater 5y ago
      Apple only exists when they make you feel loved.
• nerveband 5y ago
  Not sure if OP is accurate here? Please correct me if I’m wrong. If you export from QuickTime using the Apple Devices preset on export, that is an MP4 profile. Simply export and then rename the file from .m4v to .mp4. I’ve done this countless number of times.
• runjake 5y ago
  OP isn't accurate. It exports as MP4/H.264. I just did it. It's done it this way forever in macOS/OS X/Mac OS X. Edit: https://imgur.com/a/7bHL9VK https://imgur.com/a/7bHL9VK
• rchaud 5y ago
  Handbrake for MacOS is far better than anything Apple could come up with in-house. It's free as well. Converts anything into anything. I first heard of Handbrake 15 years ago when a friend told me he borrowed DVDs from the college library and burned them to his HDD using it. I started using it myself only in 2021 to compress videos for web projects. A 2MB MP4 video I've managed to compress to 200KB without much visual degradation on mobile. https://handbrake.fr/ https://handbrake.fr/
  • deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
    • deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
• Shadonototro 5y ago
  You can, why lie?