Extract text from Quartz Composer files (QTZ)
To convert QTZ files to another format, you need Quartz Composer or other Developer software.
To convert other file formats to the "Graphics Composition" file type, you need software like Quartz Composer or a similar tool.
A .QTZ file is a composition created with Apple Quartz Composer, a node-based visual programming language used for processing and rendering graphical data. These files are essentially XML-based property lists (plist) that describe a rendering graph, historically used to create macOS screensavers, iTunes music visualizers, and real-time visual effects.
The primary challenge with .QTZ files is that the technology is strictly proprietary to macOS and is now deprecated. Modern versions of macOS (10.15 Catalina and later) have largely removed support for the Quartz Composer framework, making these files difficult or impossible to open without legacy hardware or complex workarounds. Furthermore, they are completely unreadable on Windows, Linux, or mobile devices. Because the file contains rendering instructions rather than pixel data, you cannot simply "view" it without the specific underlying graphics engine.
To preserve the content of a .QTZ composition, the most pragmatic solution is converting the output to a standard video format. For archiving or sharing, converting to MOV (QuickTime) or MP4 (H.264) allows you to capture the animation as a universal video file. If you need a static representation of a specific frame, converting to PNG or JPG is recommended. Use convert.guru to render and capture these legacy compositions into usable media formats.
Use Convert.Guru to open and convert your QTZ file.
Users also converted MP4, MOV, ZIP, 3DXML and NOT files.
If you want to convert QTZ file to MP4, AVI, MOV, WMV, FLV, WEBM, MKV, M4V, 3GP, OGV, ASF or RM, you can use Quartz Composer or similar software from the "Visual Programming Composition" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert MTS, MOV, RMVB, DIVX, RM, H264, TS, WMV, VOB, MP4, XVID or AVI files to QTZ, try Quartz Composer or another comparable tool in the "Visual Programming Composition" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our QTZ converter.