AVI
Technology & Computing abbreviation · File Format
| Stands for | Audio Video Interleave |
|---|---|
| Categories | Technology & Computing |
AVI stands for Audio Video Interleave, a file format abbreviation.
Microsoft video container format introduced in November 1992 with Video for Windows, storing audio and video in an interleaved RIFF structure. It was the dominant PC video format of the 1990s and the DivX and Xvid era of the early 2000s.
Example: The camcorder's old AVI clips play fine in VLC but not in the phone's gallery app.
Usage notes
The original AVI format had a 2 GB file-size limit, later lifted by the OpenDML extension. AVI handles modern features such as variable frame rate, B-frames and subtitles poorly, so MP4 and MKV have replaced it. Many cheap security cameras and dash cams still record AVI files for simplicity.