What Is AVI Format and What Are the Cons and Pros of It?

AVI Format

Definition

What is AVI format? AVI, also known as Audio Video Interleaved, is a file format that combines audio and video data into a file for simultaneous playback. It is mainly used as a container for TVs, movies and other videos. The AVI format was developed by Microsoft in November 1992 and is now commonly used for file transfers and storage of video and audio tracks.

Due to its high compatibility, AVI files are supported not only on Windows systems but also on many other major platforms such as Mac, Linux, and Unix. Similarly, most media players (such as VLC players) can also recognize it.

Features

AVI has been put in use at a very early age after Windows 3.1 was published. Now, it is considered as the general standard for storing movies on Windows PCs and uses powerful compression technology to combine video and audio.

AVI video is not lossless, but images and audio can still maintain high fidelity. But compared to other file formats, AVI will take up a lot of storage space, and sometimes it will take up the memory required by DVD. Maybe this is the reason why MPEG-1 appeared later until now it is MPEG-4.

Structure

A complete AVI file can be composed of three parts. The first is the header section, which displays general information like file size, frame rate, and parameters about the compression algorithm used. The second part is the data part, which is including graphics and sound sequence data. The last part is an index section on file locations and allowed access functions.

Cons and Pros

Now, this part is about the cons and pros of the AVI format.

Cons

1. AVI video has exceptionally high-quality audio fidelity.
2. AVI format files can be used to create playable DVDs and discs to store initial audio/video information.
3. Thanks to its compression capabilities, AVI is the most widely used AVI video format for promotions, short films and advertising. People are familiar with the format, can recognize it and know how to use it.
4. The AVI file format was developed by Windows, making it playable on all major Microsoft and non-Microsoft operating systems.
5. The AVI file type does not require any specific hardware device or software application to run. This will automatically increase the number of people who can open AVI files.
6. The quality maintained with AVI is excellent for master files. You can lean on these master files to create files that meet a variety of sharing needs.

Prons

1. AVI does not support user interaction (for example, click to resume pause).
2. AVI is not reliable for supporting software subscriptions.
3. A large number of codecs available means that even with good AVI compression, you must experiment to get the quality and compression you need.
4. If you compress an AVI file online beyond certain limits, it will cause the video quality to decrease. Given that, modern viewers are now using screens with HD, Ultra HD, and 4K, tolerance for this loss of video quality may decline.
5. AVI files, if uncompressed, can be very large compared to other file formats. You must be willing to trade disk space for the benefit of AVI files, and you won’t be able to store that many files.
6. If you use some codecs to compress AVI files online, the same codec must be installed on your computer in order to retrieve and play the files. Although installing a codec is a relatively simple process, many people may be frustrated trying to find a codec from a secure and reliable source.

Final Words

Here is all the information on AVI format. You can know what AVI format is and what the cons and pros of it are from this post. In addition, I also provide AVI’s features and structure.