What is AVI?

AVI stands for Audio Video Interleave and is probably the most common file format for multimedia files. Microsoft is the developer of AVI. It was created to be part of the Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF), which divides a file’s data into separate pieces. AVI carries, or contains, one of the file parts. AVI is called a “container format” because it stores data instead of codes it. The data is held there until a codec can come along and put the whole file back together.

What is a codec?

Codecs are programs that work to shrink down large files like movies and music so you can download them and then play them on your PC. Because music and movie files are so large, it’s almost impossible to upload or download them quickly. So codecs step in to encode or shrink the original, raw file and then decode it as a high-quality file version.

Codecs are used in a variety of applications including:

•    Audio compression
•    Video compression
•    Streaming media via the Internet
•    Videoconferencing
•    Playing music files
•    Playing video files
•    Speech capture
•    Screen capture

AVI has its own codec, and with AVI being the most popular file format for music and movies, it’s essential that you have the proper codec for your multimedia player.

Where do I get the AVI codec?

If you receive an error while trying to access a file from your multimedia player, you may be missing the right codec or yours may have been corrupted somehow. If you are in Windows Media Player, your error may ask you if you want to “get the codec.” Because Microsoft is the creator of AVI and its codec, Media Player should be able to go directly to Microsoft and download the file.

If, for some reason this doesn’t work, you can go to Microsoft’s downloads section
and find the codec for your version of Windows Media Player. WM9Codecs.exe is the codec you’ll need if you are running Media Player 7.1 or later. You may also need to download wmp6cdcs.exe for Windows Media Play 6.4.

For Real Player users, you may be missing the DivX codec. To download the codec, go to the DivX web site and download their free codec pack directly from them. Click on the Downloads link and follow the instructions once their installer opens and in no time you’ll have the codec you need for your Real Player.