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What is MOV?

MOV is Apple’s QuickTime container — the format iPhones and Macs record into. It is structurally the ancestor of MP4 and often holds identical H.264 video, but the extension itself is enough to make many players, editors and upload forms refuse it.

MOV at a glance

MIME type
video/quicktime
File extensions
.mov, .qt
Specification
Apple QuickTime File Format, the basis on which ISO/IEC 14496-12 was written
Compression
Depends on the codec: H.264 and HEVC from iPhones, ProRes from professional cameras and editors.
Transparency
Supported by some professional codecs such as ProRes 4444 — not by the H.264 files a phone produces.
Animation
Not applicable — it is video.
Colour depth
8-bit for phone H.264, 10-bit and above for HEVC and ProRes.
Metadata
Creation date, GPS location on phone recordings, rotation matrix and track metadata.
Support
Native on Apple platforms. Windows and Android handle it inconsistently, browsers vary, and a large share of web upload forms accept MP4 only.

Strengths and weaknesses

  • What Apple devices record natively, so nothing is lost in a first-generation file.
  • Carries professional codecs such as ProRes that MP4 is rarely used for.
  • Structurally near-identical to MP4, so converting is usually fast.
  • Rejected by many websites and players purely on the file extension.
  • ProRes files are enormous — many gigabytes per minute.
  • Editing software outside the Apple ecosystem often needs plug-ins to read it.

Why MOV to MP4 is usually quick

When an iPhone records H.264, the video track inside the MOV is already what an MP4 would contain. The conversion can therefore copy the streams into a new container instead of decoding and re-encoding them — the picture is bit-for-bit identical and the job takes seconds rather than minutes.

Re-encoding is only needed when the codec inside is something the target cannot play, such as HEVC or ProRes.

Rotation metadata and sideways video

Phones record in one physical orientation and store a rotation flag telling the player to turn the picture. Players that ignore that flag show the video on its side.

A proper conversion applies the rotation to the picture itself rather than passing the flag along, which is why a sideways MOV usually comes back upright as an MP4.

Working with MOV files

Convert or edit a MOV file

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