AVI, or Audio Video Interleave, is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in 1992. It allows for the simultaneous playback of audio and video streams, making it a popular choice for video files. AVI files can contain various codecs, which are used to compress and decompress the audio and video data, ensuring efficient storage and playback. One of the key features of AVI is its compatibility with many media players and editing software. However, while it supports high-quality video, AVI files can be larger than other formats like MP4 or MOV, which may use more advanced compression techniques.