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0 pointsthe-dude5y ago0 comments

Isn't .MOV already .MP4?

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4 comments · 2 top-level

dylan6045y ago· 2 in thread

No. MP4 is based on MOV. MP4 is typically going to have h.264 video with AAC audio. MOV is not limited in video codec, nor audio codec. Even though MediaInfo reports MOV as MPEG-4, they are not the same.

Denvercoder95y ago

MP4 isn't limited in video codec or audio codec either, and it's quite common to have non-H.264 or non-AAC codecs in them. The only difference between MOV and MP4 are a few later created extensions, and the difference in every day use is negligble.

dylan6045y ago

MP4 is an ISO standardized version of where MOV was at the time it was made a standard. MOV is an Apple product that they are free to update as they see fit. Apple has since modified the QT container regarding things like the moov atoms for aspect ratio, color systems (709 vs 609 etc), and all of the other similar fiddly bits. This is the major differences between the two to me.

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LeoPanthera5y ago

Both mov and mp4 are "containers", which can contain different kinds of codec. Both are usually h264 - mp4 especially - but they don't have to be. mp4 files can contain many different variants of mpeg-4, including hevc. mov files can contain virtually anything.

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