Import AVI files to iTunes

Question

Import AVI files to iTunes

I've checked through many forums and the general idea I'm getting is that AVI files cannot be imported into iTunes. I'm told that to get your movies into iTunes and visable to the Apple TV I'm intending on buying, you have to convert them to MP4 files. This causes me a huge problem for me as I have about 800 movies in the AVI format!

Can anyone tell me why Apple does support AVI files? Also, is anyone aware of a way AVI files can be imported to iTunes?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Jan 17, 2011 11:38 PM

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Answer 1

Niel

Level 10

727,307 points

Jan 17, 2011 11:42 PM in response to jonathanfriel

Can anyone tell me why Apple does support AVI files?

AVI is a container, not a format, and nothing is assured of working with all documents of that type.

(56267)

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Answer 2

varjak paw

Level 10

170,206 points

Jan 18, 2011 9:30 AM in response to jonathanfriel

As Niel said, AVI is a container format, and an obsolete one at that. It was developed by Microsoft years ago and even they have abandoned it. So while QuickTime provides some very limited AVI support, iTunes does not and almost certainly never will.

As to conversion, you can try Handbrake or MPEG Streamclip. Those can convert many formats, though by no means all (AVI can use one of any number of codecs, not all of which have ever been ported to Mac).

Regards.

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Answer 3

Jan 18, 2011 12:54 PM in response to jonathanfriel

As the others have stated avi is a container for multiple formats/codecs. I had the same ordeal when I collected many of my DVD's into an avi format (xvid codec). I used Automator to convert all my files to m4v. Just have enough space and time where you don't need to use your computer cause it uses a lot of cpu. Just create a workflow in automator - ask for finder files - export to apple tv. Really easy.

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Answer 4

ericole

Level 2

155 points

Aug 2, 2011 7:05 PM in response to varjak paw

It may be "obsolete" but there are MANY of us with digital cameras that only produce movies in that format. It's a royal pain b/c none of our videos in iPhoto will show up on the ATV2 - even though we are sort of told they will. Especially if you look at the third bullet of the specs (motion JPEG, .avi audio).

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