Convert to and from AVI, free.
AVI is a Microsoft container from 1992. It still turns up in old archives, camcorder dumps and downloaded footage, but it predates modern compression and has no idea what a phone is.
Convert something else to AVI
Pick what you have. Each page opens the editor with AVI already selected as the output.
Convert AVI to something else
Pick where it is going. Phones, browsers and social platforms do not play AVI at all.
What AVI actually is
Audio Video Interleave (Microsoft)
DivX, Xvid, MJPEG and other legacy codecs
Opening archive footage from the 2000s
Desktop players with the right codec pack
Very large for the quality
Widely readable by desktop players from the same era.
Phones, browsers and social platforms do not play AVI at all.
The legacy codecs inside waste enormous amounts of space compared with H.264.
No support for modern features like proper streaming, chapters or clean seeking.
Questions about AVI
What is an AVI file?
AVI is a Microsoft container from 1992. It still turns up in old archives, camcorder dumps and downloaded footage, but it predates modern compression and has no idea what a phone is. It is the Audio Video Interleave (Microsoft) container, usually holding DivX, Xvid, MJPEG and other legacy codecs.
Is converting AVI free?
Yes. Convert and preview for free, then create a free account to download the result. Nothing is installed and there is no watermark on the file itself.
Will converting to AVI lose quality?
Some, whenever the codec changes: every re-encode discards detail. Where the container can simply be rewritten around the existing streams it is lossless, and where it cannot the default settings are chosen so the loss is not visible at normal viewing size.
Other formats
Converters
Convert it, then keep editing.
Every converter opens the full editor, so you can trim, caption and share without uploading the file twice.