QuickTime (or QuickTime Player, referred to officially as QuickTime X in Mac OS X Snow Leopard) is an extensible multimedia architecture created by Apple, which supports playing, streaming, encoding, and transcoding a variety of digital media formats. The term QuickTime also refers to the QuickTime Player front-end media player application, which is built into macOS, and was formerly available for Windows.
QuickTime was created in 1991, when the concept of playing digital video directly on computers was "groundbreaking." QuickTime could embed a number of advanced media types, including panoramic images (called QuickTime VR) and Adobe Flash. Over the 1990s, QuickTime became a dominant standard for digital multimedia, as it was integrated into many websites, applications, and video games, and adopted by professional filmmakers.
The QuickTime File Format became the basis for MPEG-4 Part 12 as adopted in the ISO base media file format (ISOBMFF). Designed to facilitate the exchange of 'time-based media', it specifies technology independent recipes to e.g. bundle various assets into a single file, play (online) livestreams at an appropriate bitrate, or even fix Bluetooth lag" 'via temporal positioning of a source audio signal after AAC encoding'.
What is QuickTime?
QuickTime by Apple Inc. is proprietary Windows software in the video players category. It ranks 6th by popularity among video players in this catalogue. It is written in C. Besides Windows, it is available for Mac operating system and macOS.
Installation and requirements
The publisher provides EXE installers for 32-bit Windows. The main installer is 41.9 MB. Installation asks for administrator rights. A silent install is possible with the installer’s documented switches.
Popularity and file types
The Chocolatey package has been downloaded 2,104,931 times. Wikipedia has an article about it in 29 of our languages. On Windows it registers 40 file types, including .psd, .m4b, .ac3, .aif and .mid. Similar programs include MPC-BE, VLC media player and MPC-HC.
Pros / Cons
Pros
- Documented silent install
- Opens 40 file types
- Also runs on Mac operating system and macOS
- Large user base
Cons
- Proprietary licence: check the terms and price
- No native ARM64 build
- 32-bit only
- Installation needs administrator rights
- No update for more than a year
In short: QuickTime is a video player tool for 32-bit PCs. Updates have slowed down. Administrators can deploy it unattended.
Is QuickTime safe to download?
- The file is served by secure-appldnld.apple.com, the publisher’s own domain
- The download link uses HTTPS
- A SHA256 hash is published, so you can verify the file:
56EFF77B029B5F56C47D11FE58878627065DBEACBC3108D50D98A83420152C2B· Open the VirusTotal report for this hash - The link answered when we last checked it (October 22, 2026)
- ExeAtlas does not host, wrap or modify installers
Related guide: How to check a file’s SHA256 hash on Windows
Recent versions
All 1 versions ›| Version | Date | Size | Files |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.79.80.95Latest | April 20, 2016 | 41.9 MB | 32-bit EXE |
Install from the command line
Silent install ›winget install --id Apple.QuickTime -echoco install Quicktime -yQuickTimeInstaller.exe /quiet /norestartmsiexec /x {FF59BD75-466A-4D5A-AD23-AAD87C5FD44C} /qn /norestartRelated guide: How to use winget: install and update apps
Information
- Publisher
- Apple Inc.
- Category
- Video players
- Licence
- Proprietary
- Price
- See the publisher’s site
- Written in
- C
- Requires
- Windows 11 / 10
- Architecture
- 32-bit
- Installer
- EXE
- Other platforms
- Mac operating system, macOS
- Version
- 7.79.80.95
- Released
- April 20, 2016
- Added to the catalogue
- August 5, 2025
- Versions listed
- 1
- Chocolatey downloads
- 2,104,931
- Website
- support.apple.com
- winget ID
- Apple.QuickTime
- Chocolatey package
- Quicktime
- MSI product code
- {FF59BD75-466A-4D5A-AD23-AAD87C5FD44C}
File types it opens (40)
Ratings and reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to rate it.
Alternatives to QuickTime
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VLC media player3.0.24VLC is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files, and various streaming protocols.Open source22.6M ↓ -
MPC-HC2.8.4MPC-HC is an extremely light-weight, open source media player for Windows. It supports all common video and audio file formats available for playback.Open source193.6K ↓ -
MPV (Official CI build, MSVC)0.41.0A free (as in freedom) media player for the command line. It supports a wide variety of media file formats, audio and video codecs, and subtitle types.Open source288.4K ↓ -
Proprietary13.4K ↓ -
Free5M ↓ -
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Frequently asked questions
Is QuickTime free?
QuickTime is proprietary (closed-source) software (licence: Proprietary). Whether it costs money depends on the edition: check the publisher’s site for prices and free tiers.
Is QuickTime safe to download?
The download comes from secure-appldnld.apple.com, which belongs to the publisher; ExeAtlas does not host or change the file. Compare its SHA256 hash with the one shown here, or open the VirusTotal report for that hash.
How do I install QuickTime with winget?
Open PowerShell or Windows Terminal and run the winget command shown on this page. winget downloads the official installer and checks its SHA256 hash before running it.
Can QuickTime be installed silently?
Yes. The silent install page lists the exact command for each installer.
Does QuickTime run on ARM (Windows on Arm)?
There is no ARM64 build; Windows 11 on Arm can run the 32-bit version through emulation.
What are alternatives to QuickTime?
MPC-BE, VLC media player, MPC-HC, MPV (Official CI build, MSVC) and Audacious. The alternatives page compares them.
