Audio-Video Interleave (AVI) is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in 1992. It allows for the simultaneous storage of audio and video data in a single file, making it easier to play back synchronized media. AVI files can contain various codecs, which are used to compress and decompress the audio and video streams. The format is widely used for video playback on computers and supports multiple audio tracks and subtitles. While AVI files can offer high-quality video, they may also result in larger file sizes compared to other formats like MP4 or MKV, which use more efficient compression methods.