Tracks are maintained in a hierarchical data structure consisting of objects called atoms.
Other later-developed media container formats such as Microsoft's Advanced Systems Format or the Matroska and Ogg containers lack this abstraction, and require all media data to be rewritten after editing.
This is especially true on hardware devices, such as the PlayStation Portable and various DVD players; on the software side, most DirectShow and Video for Windows codec packs[10][11] include an MP4 parser, but not one for QTFF.
[18][19][20][21][22] A list of all registered extensions for ISO Base Media File Format is published on the official registration authority website www.mp4ra.org.
This registration authority for code-points in "MP4 Family" files is Apple Inc. and it is named in Annex D (informative) in MPEG-4 Part 12.