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Free AVI Player: Play AVI Files on Windows (10) and Mac

Posted by Kaylee Wood | Last update: April 28, 2020

If you can’t play AVI files on Windows or Mac OS, this free AVI Player named 5KPlayer is a good option for you. With whatever codec your video file is encoded under the Audio Video Interleave container, 5KPlayer is an AVI player Windows (10)/Mac to play them all out-of-the-box. Get yourself the AVI player free download to play WMV MP4 MKV, etc videos to perfection as well!

Content:
1. What Is AVI?
2. Solve AVI File Not Playing on Mac and PC
3. Top 5 Free AVI Players for Windows (10) and Mac
4. How to Play AVI Video with the Best AVI Player?

What Is AVI?

Audio Video Interleaved, aka AVI first introduced by Microsoft is now more recognized as container format like MKV, MP4. This format derived from RIFF is best-known as a lossy compression format prevailing since 1992. Its interleaving data storing idea - allowing audio and video files inside an AVI file to play synchronous was such an innovation, that it helped increase the data-reading speed in real terms.

AVI files enjoy good compatibility and can open under Windows, Mac with a proper AVI player, however, they are often more sizable than MP4, hence less suitable for online streaming.

To be more technical, files with the extension *.avi are not precisely the same. By sequence of compression rate, we have type-1. Lossless Uncompressed AVI, type-2. DV-AVI, type-3. AVI, and type-4. H.264/MPEG-4-AVC Video Format, i.e. 4 types of files in total, among which type-1 is suitable for video editing, whereas the rest for playback with an AVI video player Windows (10) or Mac.

How to Solve AVI Not Playing on Windows and Mac

“When playing AVI file in Windows Media Player I get this error message ‘Windows Media Player cannot play the file. The Player might not support the file type or might not support the codec that was used to compress the file.’ How to fix it? “ -- User posted on Microsoft Forum.

Windows Media Player is supposed to AVI file playback by default, but AVI is the video container that may contain various audio and video codec. Windows Media Player used to support all video codecs that compressed in AVI file. However, more video codecs like DivX, Xvid, DX50, MP4V, etc. began to be used in AVI files and Windows Media Player wasn’t updated to support such files. Especially on Windows 10, not only can’t Windows Media Player play AVI, but also H.265, MKV, MOV are not supported in Windows Media Player.

In such case, to solve AVI file playback error on PC, you need to use a powerful third party AVI player to play AVI files on Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7. 5KPlayer is a free and all-in-one media player for Windows 10 to play AVI, HEVC, AVC, DivX, Xvid, SWF, DAV, etc. on both Windows and Mac. Neither needing to download extra codec pack nor converting AVI file to another format, it is super easy to play AVI files with this best free AVI player.

Best 5 Free AVI Players for Windows 10/8/7 and Mac

No. 1: 5KPlayer – 100% Clean Free AVI Player for Mac/Windows

With built-in 450+ video codec and 180+ audio codec, 5KPlayer is capable of handling any mainstream codec for AVI format including Xvid, DivX, Cinepak, Indeo, DV, MJPEG, etc codec as a professional AVI player, and also good at playing any other SD (MP4 FLV WMV SWF MOV 3GP MP3 etc), HD MKV AVCHD 1080p, 4K UHD, etc file as a video music player. No matter what AVI files that Windows Media Player or QuickTime player can’t handle, you can refer to this AVI player Windows/Mac to:
1. Play AVI file on Mac (macOS Catalina/Mojave/High Sierra etc.) and Windows 10/8/7.
2. Free download AVI video movie from 300+ sites like YouTube, Dailymotion, Vevo, etc.
3. Convert AVI to MP3/AAC/MP4 etc to enjoy on iPhone/iPad/Android etc.
Forget converting the video formats, downloading AVI codecs or installing third-party plugins, just free download AVI player 5KPlayer to enjoy your AVI files.

No. 2: VLC Media Player – Open-source AVI Player

VLC is as powerful as 5KPlayer when referring to AVI file playback. With amazing adaptability to different operating systems like Windows, Mac OS, Linux, iOS, etc, this AVI player has gained millions of users and owned a strong fan base. It always ranks high on the Softonic download chart as an open source cross-platform multimedia player for its easy operation and great compatibility with various file formats. However, this AVI player does not support all AVI files unless you download VLC codec pack with Xvid, DivX, MJPEG, etc codecs to help it play any AVI video movie smoothly.

No. 3 KMPlayer – Free AVI Player with Bundleware

KMPlayer becomes more and more popular after the release of KMPlayer Mac beta version that you can take it into consideration when choosing an AVI player. Supporting multi-system including Mac and Windows and bundled with its own internal codecs, this AVI player could play any AVI RTS MPEG AAC WMA OGG MP3 etc video music and DVD files with different types of resolution even up to 4K easily without installing any plugin. Despite that, KMPlayer is not perfect as you may find there are different bundleware applications during the process of KMPlayer setup. Don’t worry! You can stop KMPlayer bundleware step by step and have a clean AVI player to play AVI files on Windows/Mac.

No. 4 GOM Player – Best AVI Player Windows/Mac featuring 360 VR

Speaking of a great AVI player for Windows Mac, GOMplayer shall also earn a place here. It has support for vast A/V formats including AVI, VOB, RMVB, MKV and subtitle formats – smi, srt, rt. Its built-in codecs are also abundant for tons of varied and rare codec decoding. Since this AVI player supports OpenCodec and auto-codec-finding, even if its innate codecs are stretched thin, external codecs or packs can be auto-mounted for a trouble-free ceaseless service. Its general AVI handling is smooth, however, if you try to exit during GOMplayer AVI playback by clicking close button “X”, then it’s highly possible that the AVI video would be corrupted without alters and you might fail to open it next time. Stick with “Exit” button, if you may.

One of the highlights about this AVI video player would be its 360 VR video support . Users can watch 360 degree videos around by just using keyboard and mouse on Windows/Mac. You can even search and play YouTube 360 videos directly. Other advanced functions like screen capture, playback speed control, A-B repeat etc are as well all in readiness

No. 5 MPC-HC – Most Lightweight AVI Player Windows Only

This AVI player is simply the most lightweight player one can ever expect, simple, clean, spyware free without ads or toolbars. MPC-HC will allow you to playback any AVI files on any SSE CPU even your old ‘99 computers. And best of all, this media player is totally tweak-able with supports for many codec packs and individual 3rd party renderers, decoders, filters, demuxers etc. For a powerful DIY AVI player, MPC-HC core engine can be your most reliable mate to gather a whole bunch of strong allies for a smooth AVI reading cooperation.

The only problem is that this AVI video player is Windows(10) platform dedicated, meaning Mac users are out of reach for this great player. MPC-HC alternatives like Potplayer, VLC, 5KPlayer can be a good stand-by.

The above top AVI players list only gives you a clue of each player’s inclined features. And you can choose from them according to the feature preferences. For most users who prefer out-of-box easy and powerful media player that can generally handle any AVI files throw at it, we strongly recommend you 5KPlayer which also integrates advanced utilities including AirPlay, online video download, and video to MP3 conversion. You are not just obtaining AVI file playback but the entire media world at your feet.

How to Play AVI Files with the Recommended Free AVI Player?

With 5KPlayer, you don’t need to install codec packs or convert video formats. You can play any AVI files as easy as ABC.

Step 1 : Download and install this free AVI player, and then launch it.

Step 2: Load the AVI files you want to play by using one of the ways below:

* Drag & drop AVI file to the main window of the AVI player;
* Click “Video” to add AVI file for playback;
* Right click on target AVI file, navigate to “Open with” option and then scroll down to “5KPlayer”. And then 5KPlayer will play the AVI file for you immediately.

Tips 1: You can pause/play, fast-forward, fast-backward, take a screenshot, adjust volume and access AirPlay in 5KPlayer.

Tips 2: In the Library option, 5KPlayer enables you to view your Playlists, where you can choose to open directory, convert the video format.

For example, you can add any songs and music to create a playlist or remove them from the playlists you want; you can sort out your Favorites or establish a new one.

Note: This Free AVI video player not only allows you to play AVI files, but also a variety of media file types, including MP4, MOV, WMV, MKV, FLV, MP3, FLAC, etc. Moreover, this video music player is also known for its capability of free playing 4K videos with high quality, as well as playing region-free DVDs and copy-protected DVDs without any hassle.

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