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What is an AVI file?
A legacy Windows container from the early 1990s. Still used by older cameras, DVD players with USB ports and legacy editing tools.
Pros
- Plays on old DVD/USB players and legacy Windows software
- Simple, widely understood structure
Cons
- Large files compared with MP4
- No modern features such as streaming or reliable subtitles
How to open AVI files
VLC Media Player (free, Windows/macOS/Linux/Android/iOS) opens AVI files with almost any codec. If a specific app won't open it, convert it to MP4.
Is AVI lossy or lossless?
AVI is a container, not a codec — whether it is lossy depends on the streams inside (MPEG-4 Part 2 (Xvid/DivX) video with MP3 audio). In practice almost all AVI files use lossy compression.
When should you convert AVI?
Still used by older cameras, DVD players with USB ports and legacy editing tools. If the app or device you need doesn't accept AVI, convert it to MP4 — the most widely supported alternative.
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AVI at a glance
- Full name
- Audio Video Interleave
- Developed by
- Microsoft
- Introduced
- 1992
- Contains
- MPEG-4 Part 2 (Xvid/DivX) video with MP3 audio
- MIME type
- video/x-msvideo
- Best for
- old DVD players, legacy software, archived home videos