Video Editing: any way to convert *to* .mov?

Factual Questions
1

I have various formats - .wmv, .mpg, .avi - that I want to convert to quicktime, without having to buy software, since it’s probably a one-time deal. Everywhere I look there are tools to convert from .mov to other formats, but not the opposite.

Anyone know how to do this?

/newbie at video editing

2

I think you have to by QuickTime professional. At least you did back when I needed to convert stuff to QuickTime. I presume this is because Apple owns the right to the codec.

3

Any of the better video editors will output to the .mov format. You could download the free 15 day trial of Ulead Video Studio and use it to do the conversion. You don’t necessarily have to do any actual editing, just import the movie into the editor and then output to the .mov format.

Be aware that video applications are system intensive. Be sure to check to see if your system is up to the task.

4

If you can open the video file in QuickTime Player, you can export it as a “.mov” file. That won’t help you for formats that QT Player can’t (yet) open, like RealPlayer.

5

  1. You don’t need Quicktime Pro to save files in Quicktime – it all depends on what software tools you use.

  2. Quicktime isn’t a codec; it’s a media container format. A Quicktime file can be a WAV sound, a Sorenson video, an uncompressed DV stream, a half-dozen animated sprites, or any of several dozen schemes. I believe AVI is in a similar boat, where the format is merely an encapsulation of several possible schemes.

  3. Because of #2, saying you want to “convert to Quicktime” is meaningless; what you are trying to do is create a Quicktime file that contains one or more audio/video/multimedia streams. Any decent tool that lets you save a Quicktime file will also give you an option to specify what codecs/streams you’re writing to that file.

6

  1. Yes, I actually knew that, but presumed anything else would be more expensive than QuickTime. I didn’t believe there was anything free, because when I needed to export .mov from another format I did extensive looking and couldn’t find a free converter.

  2. Well, there’s the QuickTime player and then there’s .mov format, which I thought was QuickTime propietary format. I’ve called .mov files “QuickTime movies,” and referred to making those as “converting to QuickTime.” I guess I didn’t really know what I was doing, although the multimedia worked.

  3. See #2.