Editing .m4v files

Question

Editing .m4v files

Is there a way to edit (cut and paste) .m4v files? QT Pro will do it, but then insists on saving the result as a .mov file

Posted on Oct 24, 2005 11:37 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 24, 2005 1:14 PM in response to Joseph Swinson

QT always "Saves" files with a .mov wrapper around the file. The only way to make a pure m4v file with QT Player is to export to that format.

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Answer 2

Oct 24, 2005 2:10 PM in response to Dick Napoli

okay... so back to the original question: is there any way to edit .m4v files without changing the file type? Thanks

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Answer 3

Oct 24, 2005 3:09 PM in response to Joseph Swinson

I assume you think that the .m4v extension is a requirement of some type? Maybe for your new iPod?
It will play .mov files just fine. So will iTunes.

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Answer 4

Kyn Drake

Level 7

21,597 points

Oct 24, 2005 3:18 PM in response to Joseph Swinson

There is an option in the QuickTime export that I haven't tried after an edit (or I can't remember if I did). For the video and audio options under MPEG-4, choose Passthrough. This should just take the video you have and wrap it back up without any re-compression and without forcing you into a .mov file.

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Answer 5

Oct 24, 2005 3:53 PM in response to QuickTimeKirk

No - I know iTunes (& iPod) will play both, but iTunes is the default player for .m4v, and QT is the default for .mov... I could change these, but don't want to for other reasons. I know I can work around this, I just wanted to know if there was a simple way to edit .m4v's without changing them. Maybe in future versions of iTunes...

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Answer 6

Oct 24, 2005 4:43 PM in response to Joseph Swinson

If you want iTunes to open a file you need only tell it to be the app associated to it.
The Finder "Get Info" window can change the "Open With" settings of a single file or an entire group of files based on the file extension.

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Answer 7

Oct 24, 2005 7:18 PM in response to QuickTimeKirk

Thanks guys. Like I said, "I could change these, but don't want to for other reasons". I don't want to routinely open .mov files with iTunes... all I want is to edit .m4v files without changing the file type. IT CURRENTLY CAN'T BE DONE. Thanks anyway.

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