What is “AVI” video file format? 

We usually say that an AVI is an audio and video file, however, to be exact, we must review this notion. An AVI is a container that can integrate video files such as DivX, Xvid, Mpeg, etc. The data is encoded in MP3, AC3, PCM, etc. for music.

The AVI works with a codec system (“encoder-decoder”), software to encode, decode or compress a digital data stream, which allows encapsulation of video and audio streams.

A brief history of the AVI format.

AVI means “Audio Video Interleave”, interleave translating into French by “intercaler” or “entrelacer”. The AVI file has the extension .avi once created and saved.

AVI appeared in November 1992: Microsoft offers its users the possibility to obtain in a single file several audio tracks and a video track.

Its early format being limited to only 2GB capacity, extensions were created by Matrox OpenDML, and validated by Microsoft, to allow it to exceed this weight limit.

Microsoft offers its users Windows Movie Maker, a free editing software, to enable good quality work on .avi files.

How do I play and export an AVI video? 

Developed by Microsoft, the AVI is readable under Windows Media Player, already present in your PC. If you prefer to download software, VLC Media Player will recognize your .avi.

If you are a Mac user, the AVI will not be immediately readable by Apple programs. To solve this problem, you just need to use a video player such as VLC or UMPlayer to access your .avi.

To export your AVI file, you must choose the appropriate codec for your multimedia project according to the quality you are looking for. Your program offers you an export to the codec of your choice, and encapsulated in the AVI file.

We must also pay attention to making the correct codec choice: the higher the quality chosen, the longer the encoding time will be.

What media can I upload an AVI file to? 

An AVI format is a rather heavy format, so you have to provide a good internet connection or transform it into another format to simplify the upload of the .avi file.

Many platforms accept the .avi: YouTube, Dailymotion, Vimeo, Wistia, SproutVideo for companies, or TikTok app. However, this list is limited compared to the one for other types of existing formats.