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AVI
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MOV

AVI to MOV Converter — Free, Online, No Upload

Old AVI files won't open in iMovie or Final Cut Pro — MOV is the Apple-native format that works immediately.

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✓ Files never uploaded✓ 100% browser-based✓ No account required
Need the reverse?MOV → AVI

How to convert AVI to MOV online

  1. 1

    Drop your AVI file

    Drag your Audio Video Interleave file onto the box above, or click it to pick a file.

  2. 2

    Wait a few seconds

    Conversion starts on its own and runs on your device, not on a server.

  3. 3

    Download your MOV

    Click Download to save the QuickTime Movie file.

AVI vs MOV: format overview

AVI

Audio Video Interleave

Microsoft · 1992

Compression
lossy
Transparency
No
  • ✓ Universal Windows compatibility
  • ✓ Simple container format — widely supported
  • ✗ Large file sizes (minimal compression)
MOV

QuickTime Movie

Apple · 1991

Compression
lossy
Transparency
No
  • ✓ High quality, preferred by Apple ecosystem
  • ✓ Supports ProRes codec for editing

AVI magic bytes: 52 49 46 46 xx xx xx xx 41 56 49 20

MOV magic bytes: 00 00 00 xx 66 74 79 70 71 74

Why convert AVI to MOV?

AVI files are a relic of the Windows video world from the early 1990s, and Apple has never embraced them. QuickTime Player cannot open most AVI files without third-party codecs. Final Cut Pro and iMovie reject them outright. If you have old camcorder footage, home videos, or archived recordings in AVI format and want to edit or preserve them on a Mac, the AVI container is a fundamental obstacle.

MOV is Apple's native video container — the format that QuickTime Player, Final Cut Pro, iMovie, and every Apple tool understands by default. It was designed alongside macOS and iOS and supports the codec combinations that Apple hardware is optimized for. Video in a MOV container opens instantly on any Mac without additional software, plugins, or codec packages.

Converting AVI to MOV gives your old footage a home in the Apple ecosystem. The video — often DivX, Xvid, or uncompressed AVI — is re-encoded to H.264 inside a QuickTime container. This is a lossy transcode at CRF 23, a level where most footage looks the same as the source; H.264 video already inside an AVI is copied without re-encoding. The output is smaller than uncompressed AVI sources and immediately editable in iMovie or Final Cut Pro. This is the standard conversion path for digitized home video and old camera footage entering a Mac editing workflow.

Quality & file size: AVI to MOV

Typical sizes (1 minute 1080p): AVI 200–600 MB → MOV 150–500 MB.

Frequently asked questions

Why won't iMovie open AVI files?
iMovie on modern macOS does not support AVI files because Apple removed QuickTime's AVI decoder in recent macOS versions. Converting to MOV (H.264) gives iMovie a format it fully supports.
What codec does the MOV output use?
The converter outputs H.264 video in a MOV container with AAC audio — the standard format fully supported by all Apple software including Final Cut Pro, iMovie, and QuickTime Player.

Your AVI file never leaves this tab — FormatDrop has no endpoint that receives file data. How it works