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What is an AVI file?

AVI is a multimedia container file format that stores audio, video, and metadata — like video descriptions, subtitles, etc. You can think of it as a container that packs in multiple streams of audio, video, and metadata information into one place, for seamless playback.

Developed on RIFF (Resource Interchange File Format), which is an advanced container format, AVI files are specifically designed for storing multimedia data. Each AVI comes encoded with several video and audio codecs (software that compresses or decompresses video for playback) that come preinstalled on Windows.

AVI files are not as highly compressed as MOV, so the file sizes tend to be larger. That also means high-quality video rendition for AVI files. You may need to compress the AVI file to save space or share.

History of the AVI file.

Originally developed by Microsoft in 1992, AVI became the video standard format of the future. It did not need special tools or software, enjoyed almost seamless operation on all Windows machines, and rendered high-quality audio fidelity.

Microsoft designed and developed AVI to introduce digital video playback to the Windows OS and now, all Windows machines with Windows Media Player play AVI by default.

Back in the 1990s and 2000s, it was popular to ‘burn’ CDs and DVDs to store content. AVI allowed users to burn disks, enabling them to convert digital video files into CDs in minutes, without losing quality.

As we are now in a CD and DVD-less world, AVI files still enjoy widespread use and on streaming sites like YouTube.

Pros and cons of AVI files.

How to open an AVI file.

AVI files are super easy to open, whether you’re using a Windows or iOS device.

Windows

Unlike some video file formats, opening AVI files take no special tools or software on Windows.

Simply:

  1. Open your folder containing the file.
  2. Locate the AVI file you want to open.
  3. Double-click on the file.
  4. The file should open in the default Windows Media Player.

macOS

Unlike Windows, opening AVI on Apple's macOS takes a bit more effort, as it’s QuickTime is Mac's default media player and QuickTime does not open AVI files. To work around this:

  1. Convert your AVI file, using a third-party converter to a Mac-compatible file, such as MP4 or MOV.
  2. Locate the newly converted file.
  3. Open the new filetype on Mac’s default media player, QuickTime.

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Are AVI files YouTube compatible?

Yes, AVI is one of Google's top recommended video formats. You can seamlessly upload your AVI files here and share your content with over a billion users.

Why do AVI files seem stretched or squeezed when played?

Unlike modern video containers, AVI doesn't hold information about pixel aspect ratio. For this reason, many players (including Windows Media Player) render AVI files with square pixels. This can lead to frames looking stretched or squeezed.

Is AVI going to be obsolete?

AVI enjoyed its glory days in the 90s and 2000s. Newer and more advanced video formats like MP4 and MOV have dominated since, but AVI remains one of the leading video container formats.

Do AVI files use a lot of storage?

Due to compression limitations, AVI files tend to be quite large. This can lead to more space consumption.

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Learn more about similar file types to AVI.

Start using AVI files more in your projects with bespoke video editing software:

Adobe Premiere Pro After Effects Media Encoder

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