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AVI files

AVI files, (Audio Video Interleave), are multimedia containers that are widely used, mainly as one of the many file types we use daily to stream, share, create, and edit videos. Like MOV and MP4, you’ll see AVI files across platforms and devices, including on YouTube and TikTok, streamed on your PC and smartphone.

Take a closer look at AVI files and how they work.

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WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

What is an AVI file?

History of the AVI file

How to use AVI files

Pros and cons of AVI files

How to open an AVI file

How to create and edit an AVI file

FAQs

Learn more about similar file types to AVI

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.

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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.

How to use AVI files.

AVI files are simple to use when working on a video project, making them one of the most popular choices of container files.

Storing Videos.

Users can store videos in the AVI format locally on computers and storage devices, as well as on the cloud. As a Google-supported file format, AVI files can also be stored and viewed on Google Drive. You can also use AVI to store videos in most modern cloud storage, whether from Apple, Google, Microsoft, or elsewhere.

Sharing and Streaming.

If you're into sharing your video content with the world, then this file format is right for you. Among a shortlist of others, Google recommends AVI files for saving videos on YouTube. You can also upload AVI files on Facebook and present your masterpiece in high resolution in front of two billion users.

Discover more container files.

Pros and cons of AVI files.

Pros.

  • Storage on physical media. AVI allows you to store videos on DVDs and CDs, if you still require physical media copies of content saved on a hard drive or cloud.
  • Perfect for ad content. It’s an exceptional format for advertisement content and short movies, as AVI promises high-quality audio and video.
  • Minimal hardware needed. It requires no special tools to run and is almost universally supported across platforms and devices.

Cons.

  • Unsuited to compression. There is limited room to compress AVI files, which can result in a large file size for longer videos.
  • Quality loss when compressed. Hard compressing of AVI files can lead to a significant loss of quality, which impacts the end product when uploaded or screened.
  • Same codec needed. To retrieve and open AVI files, you'll require the same codec on the system. This can be problematic if you’re wanting to use a different codec to compress it before uploading.

Find out which container file types are supported by Adobe Premiere

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.

How to create and edit an AVI file.

Whether you're trying to create better social videos or viral ads, Adobe Premiere is a professional video editing software that you can use to open and edit your AVI files. Even though AVI is a 30-year veteran, Adobe Premiere still supports it, here’s how to open in Premiere.

  1. Open Premiere on your device.
  2. Click “File” and select “New Project.”
  3. Locate the AVI file that you want to import into Premiere and double click.
  4. The file will open, and you can start editing.

Questions? We have answers.

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Learn more about similar file types to AVI.

MP4

Learn more about the successor of MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, MP4, and why it has become the gold standard of video formats.

MOV

Discover how Apple's primary video container can help you can pack video, audio, and metadata in the QuickTime File Format.

MKV

MKV is an open-source video container that stores in the Matroska multimedia format and supports numerous codecs. Explore how it works.

MPG

Find out about the world of MPG files, a veteran video container and the predecessor of MP4 that efficiently packs multiple data streams for high-quality video playback.

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

Adobe Premiere After Effects Media Encoder

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