Apple released Tuesday QuickTime v6.3, a new version of its multimedia technology. QuickTime 6.3 adds support for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard, bridging a connection to passing multimedia content over wireless networks on devices like cell phones and PDAs.
Although Apple is emphasizing the QuickTime 6.3 update as a major step forward for the adoption of the 3GPP standard, that’s not the only improvement. The software also gains automatic detection of streaming transport; improvements to DV audio and video synchronization; and enhanced support for Apple’s own Keynote, iMovie and iDVD applications.
QuickTime 6.3’s support for the 3GPP standard includes Advanced Audio Codec (AAC), introduced with the previous update, Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) audio, MPEG-4 and H.263 video, 3G Text (TX3G) and native .3GP file format support. 3GPP is a dominant standard in the Pacific Rim and is gaining momentum in Europe and the United States as a way to use rich media content on cell phones and PDAs.
Frank Casanova, Apple director of QuickTime product marketing told MacCentral that the investment Apple made with its support of industry standards starting with MPEG4 is paying off dividends with QuickTime 6.3.
“Because we support the standard, we don’t have to port QuickTime to support these new phones,” Casanova explained. “The industry itself uses the 3GPP-capable technology. [QuickTime] can do what it does best — it runs on Macs and Windows PCs, encoding and playing back 3GPP content.”
With the QuickTime 6.3 update installed, content creators can export their video and audio content to formats that 3GPP phones can utilize. What’s more, audio and video captured on 3GPP phones can be played back on Macs that have QuickTime 6.3 installed.
Apple’s also very pleased with QuickTime 6’s continued success.
“Momentum is continuing to grow. We’ve had 100 million copies of QuickTime 6 distributed in the first 10 months. And we thought QuickTime 5’s adoption rate was high,” mused Casanova.
The free update to QuickTime v6.3 is available for download from Apple’s Web site or through the Software Update System Preferences pane.