Geeks' Nook: File Formats
It's a chronic headache in the modern age: There are just too many file formats for digital audio and video. Only Apple players can play the songs you buy from the iTunes Store. Conversely, you can't play the copy-protected songs from any other music store on an iPod or iPhone, although you can play unprotected MP3 songs from, for example, Amazong.com and Rhapsody.com.
So what, exactly, can the iPhone play? Anything iTunes can play.
Which means:
Video formats like H.264 and MPEG-4 (files whose names end with .m4v, .mp4, and .mov).
Audio formats like MP3, AAC, protected AAC (that is, iTunes Store songs), Audible (formats 1, 2, and 3), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV.
Tip
A free software program called Handbrake (http://handbrake.m0k.org/), available for Macintosh or Windows, can convert DVD movies into the .mp4 files that can play on your iPhone. And a $30 Apple program called QuickTime Player Pro, also for Mac and Windows, can convert dozens of other formats into iTunes/iPhone-compatible ones.
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