Format comparison
MOV vs AVI
How do MOV and AVIcompare? Here's everything you need to know to choose the right format — and how to convert between them.
.mov
Full guide →QuickTime Movie
MOV is Apple's video format, native to macOS and iOS. iPhones record video in MOV format by default. It supports high quality and professional features but works best within the Apple ecosystem.
.avi
Full guide →Audio Video Interleave
AVI is one of the oldest and most recognized video formats. While it has been largely superseded by MP4 and MKV, AVI files are still commonly found in legacy video libraries and older applications.
| Specification | MOV | AVI |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | QuickTime Movie | Audio Video Interleave |
| Extension | .mov | .avi |
| MIME type | video/quicktime | video/x-msvideo |
| Category | Video | Video |
| Developer | Apple | Microsoft |
| Year introduced | 1991 | 1992 |
MOV advantages
- High quality video support
- Native Apple ecosystem format
- Professional-grade features
- Supports ProRes codec
MOV limitations
- Large file sizes
- Less compatible outside Apple
- Requires QuickTime on Windows
- Not ideal for web streaming
AVI advantages
- Wide compatibility
- Simple container format
- No compression overhead
- Good for uncompressed video
AVI limitations
- Large file sizes
- Limited codec support compared to MKV
- No native streaming support
- Outdated format
Which should you use?
MOV and AVI target different use cases. MOV is ideal for iphone and ipad video recording, while AVI works best for legacy video archives.
Best uses for MOV
iPhone and iPad video recording
Final Cut Pro editing
Professional video production
Apple-based workflows
Best uses for AVI
Legacy video archives
Uncompressed video capture
Compatibility with older players
Simple video recording
Convert between MOV and AVI
Need to switch formats? Convert for free with SquishConvert.