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CUPERTINO, Calif., Feb 11 (Reuters) - An international standards body has chosen Apple Computer Inc's QuickTime File Format as the starting point for developing a new format for transmitting digital, audio and video signals, Apple said Wednesday.
The International Standards Organization has adopted a proposal by Apple, International Business Machines Corp IBM Netscape Corp NSCP , Oracle Corp ORCL , Silicon Graphics Inc SGI and Sun Microsystems Inc SUNW to use QuickTime for the MPEG-4 specification.
MPEG-4 is an emerging digital media standard currently being defined by ISO's Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) that will enable users to view and manipulate audio, video and other forms of digital content.
The adoption of the QuickTime file format as the starting point for an MPEG-4 standard means users are assured that all digital media content can be authored in a common file format which also supports real-time video and audio streaming.
This digital stream can then be delivered over the Internet and corporate networks or broadcast directly into the home, Apple said. By utilizing a QuickTime-based format, the majority of existing hardware, software and digital content would work seamlessly with this next-generation version of MPEG.
"Over 50 million PCs have QuickTime installed today, making it by far the most widely adopted multimedia standard in the world," Steve Jobs, Apple's interim chief executive, said in a press statement.
"Choosing QuickTime guarantees that the huge amount of QuickTime content being created and delivered today can be easily retargeted to be delivered in MPEG-4 in the future," he said. |
