.mov files

Common questions

How do I open a .mov file?

On Windows use Media Player (built in); on macOS use QuickTime Player (built in); on Linux use VLC. Apple's video container — what an iPhone records and what Final Cut works in.

What is a .mov file?

QuickTime Movie. MOV is the QuickTime File Format Apple introduced in 1991; the ISO later based MP4 on it, so the two are close cousins. iPhones, iPads and professional Apple video tools write MOV, and it can carry high-end codecs such as ProRes that MP4 usually does not.

Can I convert a .mov file?

Yes. It is usually converted to .mp4, .mkv, .avi, .webm or .gif, either by exporting from one of the programs listed above or with a format converter.

Related pages

• .mp4 — MPEG-4 Part 14 Video The default video container for phones, cameras, streaming and everything else.
• .mkv — Matroska Video An open container that holds any codec plus multiple audio tracks and subtitles.
• .avi — Audio Video Interleave Microsoft's 1992 video container, still common in old archives and camcorder foo
• .srt — SubRip Subtitle The plain-text subtitle format almost every player understands.
• .webm — WebM Video A royalty-free video container built for the web, based on Matroska.
• .ts — MPEG Transport Stream The broadcast and streaming video segment format — also, confusingly, the TypeSc
• .wmv — Windows Media Video Microsoft's legacy video format from the Windows XP era.
• .mpg — MPEG-1 / MPEG-2 Video The original MPEG video file, from Video CDs, DVDs and old digital cameras.
• .m4v — iTunes Video Apple's MP4 variant, used for films and TV episodes bought from iTunes.
• .vtt — WebVTT Caption The W3C caption format HTML5 video uses, essentially SRT with a header and styli
• .swf — Shockwave Flash Movie A Flash animation or game — the plugin that ran these was killed off at the end
• .mts — AVCHD Video The clip format written by Sony, Panasonic and Canon camcorders.