macOS Catalina: The Missing Manual

Chapter 16. Movies, Music & Sound

Macs have been capable of handling sound and graphics from day one, years before the word multimedia was even coined. MacOS’s QuickTime technology, for example, plays digital movies and live “streaming” broadcasts from the internet; the new TV app is your window into Apple’s online TV and movie stores; and the new Music app is what’s left of the discontinued iTunes app for managing your music files (and shopping Apple’s online music store).

This chapter covers all these multimedia apps, and describes recording audio, too.

QuickTime Player

A QuickTime movie is a playable video file, on your Mac or online. Like any movie, it creates the illusion of motion by flashing many individual frames (photos) per second before your eyes, while also playing a synchronized soundtrack.

The cornerstone of macOS’s movie software is QuickTime Player, which sits in your Applications folder. Despite its name, QuickTime Player also lets you edit movies and even record new ones, either using your Mac’s built-in camera or by recording screen activity. Finally, when everything looks good, you can post your masterpiece to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, or another online site.

You open a movie file by double-clicking it. When QuickTime Player opens, you get a borderless playback window. Just hit the space bar to play the movie.

There’s a control toolbar at the bottom of the window (Figure 16-1), but it fades away after a few seconds—or immediately, if you move the cursor out ...