The International Standards Organization tapped Apple's QuickTime file format as the starting point for developing a new format to create digital, audio, and video content.
The standards body adopted a proposal by Apple, IBM, Netscape, Oracle, Silicon Graphics, and Sun Microsystems to use QuickTime for the next generation of specifications used to develop digital media.
The new specification, called MPEG-4, is an emerging digital media standard currently being defined by ISO's Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) that will let users 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. 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.
"It's a really good endorsement of QuickTime as a technology," said Ralph Rogers, an analyst at Dataquest. "I don't know how many more Macs that will sell next quarter."
The final specification of MPEG-4 is not expected to be completed until 1999, so products based on the specification are not expected until at least then. Apple does not expect big revenues from the licensing of the QuickTime file format.
"We do not view this as a money-making venture," said Peter Hoddie, senior QuickTime architect. "I don't think that's what this is about."
Currently, Apple gives away its popular QuickTime multimedia creation software and plans to charge $29 for a QuickTime Pro version.
