Apple yesterday released an update to QuickTime, bringing it to version 6.4. The new release adds a variety of performance improvements and also gains improved Java support and the addition of the Pixlet codec. It&s available now for Mac OS X and Windows.
According to Apple, QuickTime 6.4 delivers improvements to performance for both audio and video, including improvements to DV encoding and decoding in QuickTime based applications, such as Apple&s Final Cut Pro. It also improves playback of both SD and HD streams. The new version also adds Pixlet, a "studio grade" codec designed for digital filmmakers that provides compression ratios up to 25:1. Other new features include support for Java 1.4.1 and extended support for 3GPP, including native support of .3gp files and support for video, audio and text. Apple says the software also provides enhanced MPEG-4 and H.263 video codecs and enhanced AAC audio codec. It also gains an adaptive multi-rate audio codec (AMR) and a 3G Text importer and exporter.
The QuickTime 6.4 update is available now as a free download through Software Update on Mac OS X or via Apple&s QuickTime Web site. It&s available for all supported languages on Mac OS X and currently available for English, French, German and Japanese on Windows.
