Audio Video Interleave (AVI) is a free and open multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft, commonly used to store both video and audio data.
History#
The AVI format was introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as part of its Video for Windows software. Developed to provide a standardized format for digital audio and video data on PCs, AVI was designed as a versatile and extensible format to support synchronous audio-with-video playback. It is not associated with any one specific codec; rather, it can employ various codecs for audio and video compression. With the introduction of the Matrox OpenDML extensions in 1996, AVI files were enhanced to support larger files and extended features. Despite its age and the emergence of more advanced formats, AVI remains in use today for its compatibility and flexibility.