AVI is a multimedia container that is very popular among PC and Mac users. The format was developed by Microsoft in 1992. Usually AVI is used as a video format but unlike other formats of that time, AVI may contain both audio and video data compressed with a use of different combinations of codecs. More often such video codecs as DivX and XVID are used with .avi files. For audio playback such codecs as MP3, AC3 and PCM are used. It is possible to play AVI files with Windows Media Player or other similar programs.

F4V is a Flash Video format supported by Adobe Flash Player software and all browsers with flash video playback. The container uses boxes for data storage and it is compatible with h.264 video and AAC audio compression standards. F4V files provide better quality than FLV but need a newer version of Flash (9.0.115 or higher) and a faster processor.