User guide

DivX 10
48
DivX, LLC User Guide
AV I
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
.DIVX AND .AVI?
AVI has become the most popular container file format used for
watching video on the PC. AVI files can hold different types of
video and audio streams inside, and with the help of DivX video
compression technology, they can display incredible video quality
while maintaining a small file size.
AVI is the container file format used by DivX video versions 3
through 6. It has become the most popular file type for sharing
high-quality video on the Internet, and it’s common to see these
files with either an .avi or .divx extension. The AVI file container itself
has been in use since the days of Windows 3.11, with various
modern extensions being added through the years, including by
DivX. AVI files support a range of video and codecs, and many AVI
files shared today are DivX files — that is they specifically contain
DivX video paired with MP3 or AC3 audio.
AVI is an acronym for ‘Audio Video Interleave’, which describes the
manner in which the audio and video streams are broken down into
‘chunks’ of data and arranged so that audio and video chunks
representing any particular moment of time appear near each other
in the file. This allows the file to be read linearly during playback,
which would not be possible if streams were written in their entirety
out one after the other. This makes a critical difference for optical
storage solutions like CD, DVD, and Blu-ray, where seeking back
and forth can be extremely slow.
Technically speaking, .divx files are based on the .avi container,
but the DivX Media Format allows for extra features like XSUB
subtitles or chapter titles. DivX Certified devices will play DivX
video regardless of whether they’re in a .divx or .avi container.