The Best Free AVI players for Windows and Mac

AVI, or Audio Video Interleave is a Microsoft video format first introduced in 1992. Since then it has remained as a popular format for both Windows and Mac. While other formats such as DivX and MP4 have proven more popular since, the AVI format is still widely used across the internet today. If you have such a file and want to play it, these are what I think are the best free AVI players for Windows and Mac.

Best free AVI players for Windows

Despite initially being introduced by Microsoft, AVI files are not natively supported in Windows 10. Try playing one in the Films & TV app and you will likely see an error. If you have a copy of Windows Media Player, it will play AVI files fine but isn’t the best option.

VLC for Windows

As far as I’m concerned, VLC is the best media player full stop. It plays anything, comes fully packaged with most codecs and just runs right out of the box. It’s a small install, does not use many resources, can record, play and do all sorts with a video file. It can even stream video files from the internet. All for free.

Install VLC, set it as the default player, double click on any video or audio file and VLC takes care of it. No fuss, no configuration. It just works. It even includes special effects, an audio equalizer, bookmarking and other neat features.

GOM Player

GOM Player is another free AVI player for Windows that works right out of the box. It also comes loaded with most codecs and can play AVI files off the bat. It has three playback modes, TV, normal and high quality that can be configured depending on your PC setup and needs. There is also subtitle support, VR support and a huge range of customization options.

Like VLC, it plays just about any video or audio format and includes a codec finder if you have one that it cannot support natively. It works with most versions of Windows too.

DivX Player

DivX Player is obviously tuned towards the DivX format but can also play AVI, MKV, MP4 or MOV files too. It is a tidy player that works well, installs quickly and has a simple UI. Movie playback is fast and flawless and just works. Like the other two players, double click any video file and it will play it automatically.

DivX Player can also be configured to work how you want, support subtitles, manage video libraries, configure surround sound and a whole lot more.

Best free AVI players for Mac

Macs own media player, Quicktime 10 isn’t the best media player around and doesn’t natively support AVI files. It doesn’t support DivX or MKV either. Considering the quality of the rest of the apps within OS X it is a little disappointing. Fortunately, there are some third party options to consider.

VLC Media Player for Mac OS X

Yes, VLC again but this time for Mac. The program is much the same as its Windows counterpart and plays most files with included codecs but can work with others too. It plays AVI files seamlessly and supports subtitles, streams and more.

As you would expect, once installed VLC Media Player for Mac OS X just works. Double click on a media file and VLC picks it up and runs with it.

UMPlayer

UMPlayer is another free cross-platform video player that works with AVI files. I used to use this player until it went a couple of years without being updated. Now it is actively supported again and is back on my Mac. It supports streams, DVD images and the usual audio and video formats. It also has the ability to search out subtitle files for video that you have.

UMPlayer is almost equal to VLC in terms of playback, speed and ease of use. With over 270 codecs included, there isn’t much it cannot play either.

Mpv

Mpv used to be a fork of Mplayer which went down a while back. After MplayerX was bundled with malware, the new king of the crop is mpv. It does lack the friendly UI of UMPlayer and VLC but it makes up for that in simplicity and power. It has the unique ability to be integrated into other apps too, which is a real bonus.

The player works out of the box, plays nicely with almost every video format out there and has a very simple interface that stays in the background.