MPEG-4 Support and QT Plugin for Browsers

Question

MPEG-4 Support and QT Plugin for Browsers

Hi,
Generated a .mov file using Quicktime Broadcaster and iSight. Converted to MPEG-4 using Quicktime(Pro). The .mp4 file plays fine using Quicktime Player on both Windows and MacOSX. Uploaded the .mp4 file to a web server and had the following behavior:
Safari: displayed as a text file
Firefox(Mac): gave option to save or open after saving, recognized an MPEG-4 Movie file
Explorer6/7(Windows): Played fine using QT plugin
Firefox (Windows): gave option to save or open after saving

How can I change the Safari behavior to match Firefox or Explorer?
Colin

G5 DP1.8, PowerBookG4 12, Mac OS X (10.4.8), XP SP2

Posted on Feb 6, 2007 12:04 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Jon Walker

Level 6

19,467 points

Feb 6, 2007 2:03 PM in response to Colin Mcnaught

How can I change the Safari behavior to match Firefox or Explorer?

Try using the "Save as..." option to place the movie in a MOV file container and then re-uploading it. Some servers don't like/recognize all of the QT extension. (Alternatively, you can switch to a more "QT friendly" server/service.

Reply

Answer 2

Feb 6, 2007 2:17 PM in response to Jon Walker

Thanks, I'll try that tonight.
Isn't there a Safari setting to prevent it displaying as text rather than offering a download save option? Firefox seems to handle it OK, so presumably it's not just a server issue.
Colin

Reply

Answer 3

Jon Walker

Level 6

19,467 points

Feb 6, 2007 2:46 PM in response to Colin Mcnaught

Isn't there a Safari setting to prevent it displaying as text rather than offering a download save option?

Not that I know of. Same thing happens when someone uses MP3 audio with an MPG file extension. Firefox plays it, QT player plays it if a local file, Safari browser plug-in question marks it, and "Open URL..." in the QT Player just ignores it. "Different strokes for different folks." I just assumed Firefox was "smatter" when dealing with servers in a PC world.

However, there is one thing you can try to check things. If there is a link you can click on the Safari browser page linking you to the file, try "right-clicking" on the link and select the "Download linked file" option. Then see if the file ends up with a double extension (e.g., filename.mp4.txt).

Reply

Answer 4

Feb 6, 2007 3:20 PM in response to Colin Mcnaught

Post a link so we can check your page code. Common error is "direct" linking which bypasses the proper browser plug-in.
Your server must also update their MIME settings to allow the .mp4 file extension. Call them and ask.

Reply

Answer 5

Feb 7, 2007 7:30 AM in response to Colin Mcnaught

Thanks for the hints, etc.
Using a .mov container to hold the MPEG-4 file solved the problem. Also when I created the correct html for playing the movie with quicktime, Safari behaved correctly. I was just using a link previously. My purpose was to provide an easy route to pass a large movie file to allow someone to download the movie (someone not savvy enough to use ftp). Of course now that QT is picking up on the file it's preventing non-QTPRO users from downloading it. Solved it by renaming it .bin and having them change it back to .mp4 after download.
Its annoying that (as far as I know) KIOSKMODE can only be set True (disabling access to download) and I can't see any way to enable it for Non-QTPRO usrs. After all, it's my content, I should have the choice of allowing users to download and save or not.
Colin

Reply

Answer 6

Feb 7, 2007 11:57 AM in response to Colin Mcnaught

Archive the QT .mov file using the Finder. It becomes blah.mov.zip
Make a text based link to this new file on your server and give your viewers instructions (right-click, save linked file and unzip) in your page.

Reply