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H.264 is an MPEG-4 codec for high-quality video over a range of bandwidths, whether 3G mobile devices, video conferencing, DVD or broadcast quality HD TV. It has been adopted by both the Blu-ray Disc Association, of which Apple is a member, and the DVD Forum for use in next-generation high-definition DVDs. QuickTime also supports two dozen of the popular video and graphics formats and a dozen audio formats.

QuickTime 7 Player can play up to 24 audio channels, including 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound, with new playback controls, including variable playback speed, jog shuttle, so you can adjust the speed at which you search through individual movie frames, and live resizing of the viewer window. It also features zero-configuration streaming for optimum stream quality and new AV controls to adjust audio balance and volume, bass and treble response, brightness, colour, contrast and tint.

The £19.99

QuickTime forms the basis of the MPEG-4 file format and is the core technology behind Apple's iTunes Music Store, which now includes H.264-encoded HD movie downloads. It is also a key component of both the 3GPP and 3GPP2 standards for content delivery to mobile phones.

'With nearly a billion copies downloaded, QuickTime has an impressive legacy of developing and supporting the latest digital media open standards and is already an incredibly popular Windows technology,' said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. 'By utilising the superb H.264 codec to deliver gorgeous video content, QuickTime 7 will change the way users experience video on their computers, mobile phones and televisions.'

The preview release of QuickTime 7 Player for Windows is a free download for Windows 2000 and XP from www.apple.com/quicktime. Apple recommends that you use QuickTime 7 for Windows Public Preview only for testing purposes on non-essential systems and warns against using it with other QuickTime-based applications, such as iTunes.