# .mov MIME Type: video/quicktime

> Apple's QuickTime container — the format iPhone videos are recorded in.

- MIME type: `video/quicktime`
- Extensions: .mov, .qt
- Content-Type header: `video/quicktime`
- Compress in transit: no (already compressed)
- File signature: `66 74 79 70` at offset 4 (an ISO base media file; the brand after ftyp is typically qt  )

## Good to know

- Chrome and Firefox play `.mov` only when the codecs inside are ones they support; remux to MP4 for reliable playback.

## Server configuration

### nginx (inside the types block in mime.types)

```
video/quicktime mov qt;
```

### Apache (.htaccess or server config)

```
AddType video/quicktime .mov .qt
```

### Express

```
res.set("Content-Type", "video/quicktime");
```

### Python

```
import mimetypes

mimetypes.add_type("video/quicktime", ".mov")
mimetypes.add_type("video/quicktime", ".qt")
```

### HTML file input

```
<input type="file" accept=".mov,.qt,video/quicktime">
```

## FAQ

### What is the MIME type for .mov files?

`video/quicktime`. The same type covers .qt.

### What Content-Type header should a .mov file be served with?

`Content-Type: video/quicktime`. It's already compressed, so servers shouldn't gzip it.

### How can I tell if a file is really a .mov?

Check its bytes rather than the extension: MOV files contain `66 74 79 70` (`ftyp`) at byte offset 4 — an ISO base media file; the brand after ftyp is typically qt  . On the command line, `file --mime-type name.mov` does this for you.

## Related types

- [.mp4 — video/mp4](https://www.devkult.com/mime/mp4.md)
- [.heic — image/heic](https://www.devkult.com/mime/heic.md)

Open the interactive page: https://www.devkult.com/mime/mov