In the current version (Version 0.1), Atomic Dumpster reads and parses QuickTime files, and displays the hierarcy of the data structure within the file. The items that make up that hierarchy are called atoms. And so Atomic Dumpster is born.

(It also seems that it would make a decent name for a local band that plays the club scene for years, maybe cuts a few indie records, but never really hits it big.)

How do I use Atomic Dumpster?
Choose Open... from the File menu and select a QuickTime movie file.
Atomic Dumpster will read the file, and display the structure of the QuickTime movie.

How is it done?
Atomic Dumpster does not use the QuickTime APIs to parse the QuickTime movie. Instead, it uses code written to the public QuickTime file format specification to parse the files directly.

Why go to the trouble of redoing what QuickTime already does quite well? For two main reasons, first because I was interested in learning more about the QuickTime file format to satisfy my own curiosity. And second because I wanted to demonstrate that QuickTime is truly an open, publicly defined file format. It then seemed like this tool may be useful to others as well.

(The long version of the story includes how this started in Swing and Java, allowing Atomic Dumpster to work on any Java runtime, whether QuickTime was present or not. Then, after not enjoying Swing nearly as much as I enjoy using Cocoa, moving over to a Cocoa app in about an evening, quickly adding such features as multiple simultaneous documents.)

Is it related to Dumpster?
Atomic Dumpster is a tool that takes its inspiration (although not its implementation) from the classic Mac OS tool "Dumpster". That is the only connection between the two.

Feedback and Future Plans
Please send your feedback, bug reports, and feature requests to dempsey@mac.com. If you come across QuickTime content that Atomic Dumpster chokes on, please send along the URL that points to the content.

The next major feature planned is to display the values within the various structures. Of course, feedback helps direct future plans.

How much is it?
The current version (Version 0.1) of Atomic Dumpster is freeware. Depending on a number of factors including interest in the tool, etc. it may become paid shareware as the number of features increase. Although anyone is free to download and use Atomic Dumpster, all rights are still reserved by the author, and you may only redistribute Atomic Dumpster after contacting and getting approval from the author. You can contact me at dempsey@mac.com.

Version History
Version 0.1
6/25/02
Initial release.
Currently only displays the structure of QuickTime files. Does not display the values in the structures, nor allow editing.