Port 458 sits in the well-known ports range (0-1023), officially assigned by IANA to "appleqtc"—Apple QuickTime.1 Both TCP and UDP protocols. Reserved for streaming media in an era when that required dedicated infrastructure.
The problem: QuickTime is dead. Apple ended support in 2016. The port assignment remains.
What AppleQTC Was
In the 1990s and early 2000s, QuickTime was revolutionary. It brought video playback to personal computers when that was genuinely difficult. Streaming needed control channels, data channels, coordination between client and server.
Port 458 was part of that infrastructure. The official service name "appleqtc" likely stood for "Apple QuickTime Connection" or similar—a dedicated channel for QuickTime's streaming protocol.
It worked. Millions of people watched videos through QuickTime. The technology mattered.
Why This Port Is Strange
Port 458 is technically assigned but functionally obsolete. It occupies valuable space in the well-known ports range—the most restricted, carefully managed 1,024 addresses in the Internet's addressing system—for software that no longer exists.
IANA assigns well-known ports through rigorous review.2 Approximately 76% of system ports are allocated.3 Each assignment must justify why a registered port (1024-49151) would be unsuitable. The bar is high.
Port 458 cleared that bar in QuickTime's era. Now it's a fossil.
The Current Reality
QuickTime for Windows received its final security update in 2016. Apple removed QuickTime from macOS over time, replacing it with AVFoundation and other modern frameworks. The protocol that required port 458 no longer runs on any supported system.
Some security databases flag port 458 as potentially associated with malware,4 likely because abandoned ports sometimes get repurposed by malicious software. An open, little-monitored door.
If you see traffic on port 458 today, it's worth investigating. It's probably not legitimate QuickTime traffic.
How to Check What's Using Port 458
On Linux or macOS:
On Windows:
If something is listening on port 458, identify the process. It's unlikely to be anything you intentionally installed.
Why Obsolete Ports Matter
Port 458 demonstrates a challenge in Internet infrastructure: assignments live longer than the technology they support. IANA can't easily reclaim well-known ports even when the original service disappears. Too much risk of conflict, too much potential for broken systems that still reference old assignments.
So port 458 remains. Officially assigned to appleqtc. Practically unused. A memorial to software that changed how we watch video, preserved in the Internet's addressing system.
The port outlived the protocol. That's the genuine strangeness—these numbers are harder to kill than the code.
Related Ports
- Port 80 (HTTP): The port that eventually replaced QuickTime's streaming through progressive download and modern streaming protocols
- Port 554 (RTSP): Real Time Streaming Protocol, which QuickTime also supported for live streaming
- Port 1755: Microsoft Media Server, a contemporary competing streaming protocol
Frequently Asked Questions
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