# Which .avi viewer should I use? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 16, 2003, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-avi-viewer-should-i-use/148963 "2003-01-16T13:39:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-avi-viewer-should-i-use/148963/1 "2003-01-16T13:39:06Z")
When I play a file with a .avi extension on my computer, the associated viewer it opens in is Windows Media Player. When this happens, I get the sound but not the video. Hence, I want to download some type of viewer that will best work with an avi file. Any recommendations on a good viewer? ---
**Author:** ![Elethiomel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Elethiomel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elethiomel)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-avi-viewer-should-i-use/148963/2 "2003-01-16T13:46:28Z")
You don’t need a new viewer, you need new codecs. Find and download the Nimo codec pack, and you can use Windows Media Player to view your files. There are a lot of settings to play with, but the default ones seem to work OK. ---
**Author:** ![Elethiomel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Elethiomel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elethiomel)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-avi-viewer-should-i-use/148963/3 "2003-01-16T13:49:51Z")
Here’s one place to get it: [http://www.btinternet.com/~nimosiro/](http://www.btinternet.com/~nimosiro/) ---
**Author:** ![rookie523](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@rookie523](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rookie523)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-avi-viewer-should-i-use/148963/4 "2003-01-16T13:53:05Z")
Get the divx 5.02 codec. > **[Play DivX files. Free Video Software to play, convert and cast video.](https://www.divx.com/)** > > Download free DivX Software to play, convert and cast video including DivX, AVI, MKV and HEVC files up to 4K. Play DivX files anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-avi-viewer-should-i-use/148963/5 "2003-01-16T14:05:49Z")
Yuip, a new viewer will still need the codec you are missing. I use Media player and it works fine. ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-avi-viewer-should-i-use/148963/6 "2003-01-16T14:34:50Z")
Ah, had no idea about codec stuff. Thanks everybody. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-avi-viewer-should-i-use/148963/7 "2003-01-16T16:00:11Z")
BTW, a file type (AVI) does not tell you which codec you need. You may be able to run some AVI files and not others. If it is a codec you are missing Windows Media Player 6 will tell you it is attempting to download it. To see what codecs are installed go to Control Panel - Multimedia - Devices and there you can see the audio and video codecs ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-avi-viewer-should-i-use/148963/8 "2003-01-16T16:37:20Z")
FWIW, I recommend _not_ installing various MPEG4 (AVI) codecs to view different video files. Installing a variety of codecs can cause system instability issues. Rather, I suggest installing [ffdshow](http://cutka.szm.sk/ffdshow/index.html). It’s a universal MPEG4 directshow playback filter that will work with MS Media Player, Zoom Player and any other directshow compatible video player. Also, it contains a host of post-processing options (denoising, deblocking, etc.) that can radically improve the picture quality of your videos. ---
**Author:** ![Zagadka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zagadka/32/7272_2.png) [@Zagadka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zagadka)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-avi-viewer-should-i-use/148963/9 "2003-01-16T18:19:30Z")
Depending on where you get it from, the Nimo codec pack has a history of carrying a virus or just screwing up your system in general. It almost single-handedly wiped out my laptop a month back… and it wouldn’t even let me play a DVD until I uninstalled it completely. The DivX bundle is said to install spyware software, though AdAware never popped up anything on my system, but it is far more stable and reliable. Frankly, the codec mixup is a HUGE mess. Microsoft refuses to touch DivX encoding in particular and MPEG4 in general for the same reason they don’t like MP3 - their own formats, WMV and WMA. Of course, the majority of computer users don’t even know what a AVI is, they just click on things and expect them to work. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-avi-viewer-should-i-use/148963/10 "2003-01-16T18:27:43Z")
I have installed quite a few codecs and never had any problems. I guess, like everything, you just have to be careful. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-avi-viewer-should-i-use/148963/11 "2003-01-16T21:08:34Z")
For the record, ffdshow is an **excellent** program. I got a fairly decent boost in image quality from it. It’s also fairly well-behaved. No serious crashes in the several months I’ve been using it. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-avi-viewer-should-i-use/148963/12 "2003-01-25T01:19:01Z")
I really like Crystal Player. It’s small, optimized for performance, buffers frames while paused, and automatically and continuously synchronizes audio and video at each keyframe. Find it on google.