It's 2021 and QuickTime still doesn't export MP4. What is going on?
Every time I do a screen recording, I have to go trough the hassle of converting the video to MP4 on my Apple computer.
Even my iPhone can export to MP4 so I there is no reason for it not to work on my computer.
Come on Apple, please fix this super annoying business crap from the past when you tried to increase QuickTime installs on Microsoft machines by enforcing this now ancient format.
Just get over it.
Handbrake for MacOS is far better than anything Apple could come up with in-house. It's free as well. Converts anything into anything.
I first heard of Handbrake 15 years ago when a friend told me he borrowed DVDs from the college library and burned them to his HDD using it. I started using it myself only in 2021 to compress videos for web projects. A 2MB MP4 video I've managed to compress to 200KB without much visual degradation on mobile.
https://handbrake.fr/
It seems like several Mac OS utilities get no or negative attention. QuickTime, Image Capture, Disk Utility, and the Finder itself are broken or are missing features. I doubt Apple will repair them.
With sincere love and respect to my Mac-using colleagues, this is a common genre of late: "How can Apple be so terrible to us who love them so much?"
As I similarly say to those who engage in lengthy, anguished discourse about how it's possible that a loving God could allow such utter randomness and chaos in the world: "There is a simple answer that completely resolves this conundrum if you were but willing to hear it"
I'm still bitter that they removed variable speed and variable pitch playback. It was invaluable, and there was no reason to remove it.
OP isn't accurate.
It exports as MP4/H.264. I just did it.
It's done it this way forever in macOS/OS X/Mac OS X.
Edit: https://imgur.com/a/7bHL9VK
Not sure if OP is accurate here? Please correct me if I’m wrong.
If you export from QuickTime using the Apple Devices preset on export, that is an MP4 profile. Simply export and then rename the file from .m4v to .mp4. I’ve done this countless number of times.
2021 is the year .mov finally breaks out
1) File > Export as > Save
2) Change file extension .mov -> .mp4
I remember when you had to register Quicktime for a code to unlock features in it.
I can understand your pain. Years ago when I started a side project, I faced a similar issue with Quicktime so I decided to just build a screen recorder which exports to .mp4 by default. It saved me a lot of time and headache.
For years I kept QuickTime 7 Pro around after X came out.
For the record, you can just say save -> change to MP4.
But no, QuickTime X is hot garbage; and pretty much represents the kind of downgrade we got from iMovie HD to iMovie 7/X, or the similarly awful FCP transition.
iMovie can export to mp4, so I don't think it's an attempt at lock-in. I would guess it's just that like a lot of the macOS utilities, QuickTime gets very little development focus as of late.
Is it being worked on? If its not being worked on its not going to happen. Find another tool. It's silly but it seems like its not a priority.
Safari on iPhone also does not play webm files.
Honestly, do you expect Apple to change from their lock-in ways?
Can't you just use a modern screen recording tool like Screenflow?
It's open source, just contribute a patch.
Oh wait..
Honestly screw mp4. They put the header at the end of the file so you can’t stream it unless its specifically made for the web. I can watch most video files “while downloading” except mp4. It’s nonsense.