AVI files often appear as old home video recordings, exports from dated software, or footage from early digital cameras. While the content can be anything, the format itself dates from 1992 — and modern devices, browsers and online platforms increasingly don't support it. Converting to MP4 brings an old AVI into a format that plays everywhere.
How to Convert
- Open AVI to MP4.
- Upload the AVI file.
- Convert it.
- Download the MP4.
Why AVI Is a Problem Today
AVI was Microsoft's answer to digital video when the technology was young. It works, but:
- It often uses older codecs (DivX, Xvid, MPEG-1, MPEG-2) that modern apps and devices don't support.
- AVI files tend to be much larger than equivalent MP4 files, because the older codecs compress less efficiently.
- Modern phones, browsers and streaming platforms generally don't support AVI — they expect MP4.
Converting to MP4 with H.264 fixes all three of these at once: universal playback, smaller file, and a codec that every modern device handles.
File Size After Converting
Converting an AVI to MP4 often reduces the file size substantially — sometimes by half or more — because H.264 is a much more efficient codec than what old AVI files typically used. The quality stays very close to the original.
For Old Home Videos
AVI is common for old family home videos captured from camcorders or from VHS through a capture device. Converting these is especially worthwhile:
- They become much smaller, easier to archive and share.
- They play on any modern device without special software.
- You can share them on cloud storage or send to family members without format problems.
Keep the original AVI files as your archive copies until you've confirmed the MP4 conversion looks good, then the MP4s can serve as the everyday-use copies.
Compressing After Converting
If the resulting MP4 is still larger than you need for sharing, run it through Video Compressor to reduce it further. For sending on WhatsApp specifically, see how to compress a video for WhatsApp. For the full picture of video formats and where each fits, read MP4 vs MOV vs MKV vs AVI.
Preserving Old AVI Recordings
AVI is common for early digital camcorder recordings, captures from VHS tapes and old surveillance footage. These recordings are often irreplaceable, so the right approach is:
- Keep the original AVI file archived in a safe location.
- Convert to MP4 for everyday use, sharing and viewing.
- Confirm the MP4 looks good before treating it as the primary copy.
- Back up both the original AVI and the converted MP4 in at least two places.
Digitising old memories and then losing them to a failed drive or format that nothing can read any more is a real risk worth taking seriously.
Multiple Old AVI Files
If you have a collection — old home videos, a folder of recorded clips from an old computer — convert them in batches. Keep a consistent naming convention so converted files are easy to match back to originals: birthday-2010-avi-original.avi alongside birthday-2010.mp4.
Uploading Old Videos Online
MP4 files converted from AVI are ready to upload to YouTube (which accepts them cleanly), share via WhatsApp or email, or store on Google Photos and iCloud. Old AVI files from the early 2000s often need no extra compression — after the codec conversion, they're already a manageable size.
