AVI File Format features, uses, advantages and disadvantages

AVI means Audio Video Interleaved. It is a video and audio file format used to store audio and/or video information digitally for playback purposes. It is supported on all Microsoft Windows platforms. It has a file extension .avi, and the file size of the AVI video can be extremely large, as there is no compression.

AVI File Format

AVI file Format works as a container to hold videos and audio that are created and compressed using several codecs like DivX & XviD. Microsoft’s AVI format is the uncompressed video format. Video compression techniques are designed to reduce the file size, and they reduce the quality of the video. Video stored in AVI format retains its original quality.

AVI format supports a wide range of video & audio formats, variable frame and bit rates. It does not support menus or streaming. These features make AVI an excellent format for storing and editing video, but it is a poor format for distributing video via the Internet or physical media.

The structure of AVI files is very simple. They consist of two parts, the header followed by chunks of information. The header contains metadata of the file, like the file size, the frame rates and similar characteristics, whereas chunks store the actual audio & video information.

The AVI file format is a relatively old container. It is the most widely used file format. Programs that open AVI files are Microsoft Windows Media Player, VideoLAN VLC media player, ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre and Roxio Toast 11.

AVI File Format

AVI File Format Advantages

The AVI file format offers high-quality audio. To make it compatible with the DV standard, the DV-AVI standard can be compressed, unlike other audio/video formats. It is developed by Microsoft as a file format for its media player applications that makes it playable with all the main Microsoft and non-Microsoft operating systems.

Superb playable DVDs & disks can be created by using the AVI file format to store the initial audio/video information. The AVI file format does not require any particular hardware device or software application for the file to run.

The AVI file format is the most widely used video format for promos, short movies, and advertisements owing to its compression capabilities. It can store video data encoded in many codecs, and it can use less compression than MOV.

AVI (Audio Video Interleave) format digital video files have been around since Windows 3.0 was released, many years ago. Due to its longer history vs. MPEG format files, the associated computer “drivers” for AVI tend to be more mature. AVI programmatic control is more predictable than MPEG control.

AVI driver architecture involves more layers than MPEG, so the underlying decompression algorithm becomes unimportant to the programmer. The “driver” interface (accessed through the Windows MCI protocol/command language) is more standardized and comes from one vendor (namely, Microsoft).

AVI files allow more control over 256 palette display settings. For scenes such as computer-generated animations, the animation source images can be designed to use certain non-base palette positions to eliminate palette shifting in the program. MPEG doesn’t allow this, and accordingly, the picture needs to have thousands (16-bit color depth) or more colors to eliminate palette issues.

AVI has a lower data rate than MPEG, depending on the encoding size, the color depth, the compressor, the frame encoding rate, and audio resolution. MPEG is encoded at 1.2 Mbits/sec. (or basically 150KB/sec, that is a single speed CD data rate), AVI has another benefit over encoding via MPEG in that you can set the encoding size.

When Pentium pcs came out (starting in 1993), the size increased to 320×240 running at 15 frames per sec, With advances in codecs (AVI compressors/decompressors), The operating systems & the processors, The software decompression of MPEG-2 (broadcast quality) is now possible in software-only solutions via DVD-ROM drives, With the right system, you could encode AVI to turn out much better than MPEG.

The quality of the files is not affected when they convert to AVI file formats, even for smaller-sized files, when they are converted to MP4. Most of the converters come with additional features that improve the video quality to a great extent.

AVI File Format Disadvantages

If the AVI file format is compressed using some codecs, then to retrieve and play the file, it requires the same codec to be installed on the machine. An AVI file can be very large in size compared to other file formats if uncompressed.

An AVI file, if compressed beyond certain limits, results in the loss of video quality. AVI file format does not natively support the MPEG-4 codec, It does not support subtitles, and it tends to be larger than most video formats.

The AVI file format has dominated video libraries for a long time. The Video cams record and save videos in an AVI format, which can be played on computers. It was not possible to share these home movies with friends and relatives, but the most suitable solution to this problem is the conversion from AVI to the MP4 file format.

The main issue faced by users with the AVI file format is the poor compression. When the windows of the media player are resized, the aspect ratios are lost in the transition. ٍSo, the file format can be converted from AVI to MP4. If you are working with AVI file formats, you must understand the importance of converting them into MP4 format.

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