Why convert FLV to AVI?
FLV is a legacy Flash Video container that many editors and players no longer support. Some older editing tools, DVD authoring software, and industrial systems specifically require .AVI input. Converting the FLV preserves the content in a container those tools can accept. For general playback, MP4 is a more practical target.
How to convert FLV to AVI
VLC media player FREE
In VLC, open Media > Convert/Save, add your .flv, select AVI as the output container, and click Start.
Any Video Converter FREE FREE
Add your .flv, select AVI as the output format, and click Convert Now.
AviDemux OPEN-SOURCE
Open your .flv in AviDemux, set the output container to AVI, configure the video codec, and save.
Command line - FFmpeg CLI
Run ffmpeg -i input.flv -c:v mpeg4 -vtag xvid -c:a mp3 output.avi to re-encode the video and audio into an AVI container.
Programs that convert FLV
About these formats
.FLV
Flash Video
An FLV (Flash Video) file is a video made for Adobe Flash Player, the format YouTube and most streaming sites used through the 2000s. Flash is dead since December 2020, but VLC media player…
Open .FLV details →
.AVI
Audio Video Interleave
An AVI file is a video container created by Microsoft in 1992. To open one, use VLC media player - it includes the DivX/Xvid codecs old AVIs need and works on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android…
Open .AVI details →Quality & what to watch
- AVI is not a modern container - most encoders write MPEG-4 video inside it, producing files noticeably larger than MP4 at the same quality.
- FLV-to-AVI is a full transcode, not a container swap - each re-encode loses some quality, so keep the original
.flvif you might convert it again. - Older FLVs using VP6 video take longer to decode; FFmpeg handles VP6, H.263, and H.264 FLV streams equally well.
