Installing just Quicktime libraries on Windows

Question

There\'s Quicktime SDK for Windows, but any application that uses it needs quicktime runtime libraries to be installed on the system (SDK itself just has headers and library stu

Answer 1

If you need to redistribute QuickTime, see QuickTime Licensing for details. You're not allowed to redistribute any of the QuickTime libraries without a written agreement with Apple. Many CD-replication companies will actually request proof of this agreement before printing large numbers of CDs.

I would definitely not distribute "QuickTime Lite" without consulting with either a lawyer or your Apple licensing representative.

Your best bet, AFAIK, is to use the full QuickTime installer (all 20MB of it), and have your main installer run it with a "silent" flag. That, at least, will allow your users to install QuickTime without a half-dozen dialogs (and without those annoying pictures of surfers in bikinis). The people at Apple's licensing division seemed to think that using the "silent" flag was acceptable, at least when we consulted them.

One warning: If the user already has an older version of QuickTime 6 Pro (or earlier) installed, then installing QuickTime 7 silently will nuke their QuickTime Pro registration and they'll have to repurchase it. We actually detect this situation in our installer and display a warning during the installation process, much like Apple does.

Yes, this is a pain. After 6+ years of working with QuickTime, I'd honestly recommend looking at other video frameworks. We're currently evaluating Ogg Theora.