iMovie transcodes (‘optimizes’) HD video upon ingestion (‘import’) using this codec and stores it in the QuickTime file format (.movie). To facilitate this, iMovie/iLife installs the Apple Intermediate Codec on the system as a QuickTime component. as generated by a number of digital photo cameras with HD video recording feature. Starting with version 5 (from 2005), iMovie processes high-definition video from HDV camcorders, in later versions also from AVCHD camcorders and H.264-compressed video from MPEG-4 or QuickTime Movie files (.mov)., e.g. 2.2 Importing and exporting from other Apple software.
