Web Design in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

AVI (.avi)

AVI (which stands for Audio/Video Interleaved) was introduced by Microsoft in 1992 as the standard movie format to work with its Video for Windows (VFW) multimedia architecture for Windows 95. In AVI files, the audio and video information is interleaved in every frame, which in theory produces smoother playback. The AVI format has been replaced by the more robust Windows Media as the standard media format for Windows. Macintosh users can view AVI files using the QuickTime player.

With the growing (and well-deserved) popularity of streaming media systems, AVI movies are becoming scarce for web distribution. More often, they serve as the high-quality video source file that is converted into a more web-friendly format.

The following summarizes the AVI format:

Good for...	Short web video clips, high-quality video source files.
Delivery	Download.
Creation tools	Most video editing tools support AVI.
Player	Windows Media Player, QuickTime Player.