AVI
A Microsoft RIFF-based multimedia container for interleaving video and audio streams, capable of carrying many different codecs.
General information
- Format name
- Audio Video Interleaved
- Extension
.avi- MIME type
video/x-msvideo- Category
- video
- Data type
- Binary
- Developer
- Microsoft
- Introduced
- 1992
Media properties
- Compression
- Varies
- Common codecs
- Uncompressed video, MJPEG, DV, Cinepak, DivX, Xvid
File signatures
| Offset | Hexadecimal | ASCII | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 52 49 46 46 | RIFF | AVI uses a RIFF container. RIFF alone is not enough to identify an AVI file. |
| 8 | 41 56 49 20 | AVI | The AVI form type appears at offset 8 in a conventional RIFF AVI file. |
Common uses
Legacy video files
Desktop video editing
Captured video
Video archives
Windows multimedia
Related formats
Technical resources
| Resource | Publisher | Link |
|---|---|---|
| AVI (Audio Video Interleaved) File Format | Library of Congress | Open resource ↗ |
Record information
- Verified
- October 4, 2026
- Last updated
- October 4, 2026