AVCHD to XviD Converter

AVCHD to Xvid — What the .xvid File Really Is

Xvid is a codec, not a container, so a file called .xvid has to be something else underneath. Here it is an AVI: the bytes we hand back start with RIFF … AVI and carry an xvid FourCC in the stream header, exactly like any Xvid-encoded .avi from the DivX era. Everything on this page follows from that one fact, including the reason you will probably want to rename the download.

The .xvid Output at a Glance

How to Convert AVCHD to Xvid

1. Upload Your AVCHD File: Drag .avchd clips onto the page or click "+ Add Files". Batch conversion is supported and every file gets the same settings.
2. Set the Quality Mode: Open Advanced Options. Video Codec is fixed to Xvid. Under File Compression pick Quality Preset (Highest → Lowest), Specific file size with Auto Scale, Constant Bitrate, Variable Bitrate with min and max, Constant Quality, or Constraint Quality. The Constant Quality and Constraint Quality slider on this page is a 1-31 quantiser opening at 5, not a 16-51 CRF.
3. Choose Audio, Resolution or Trim (Optional): Audio Codec defaults to MP3, with AAC, AC3, DTS, EAC3, FLAC, MP2, PCM variants, Speex, Vorbis and WMA also offered. Video resolution starts on Keep original and offers height presets from 4320p down to 144p, Width × Height, or a percentage. Trim takes a start time and a duration in seconds or HH:MM:SS.sss.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert and download the file. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours — no sign-up, no watermark.

Picking the Audio Track for an AVI

The audio list is long because it is shared across video targets, but AVI is an old container and not every entry in it is a good idea. AVCHD camcorders normally record Dolby AC-3 or linear PCM.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is .xvid a real file format?

Not as a container, no. There is no .xvid specification — the extension is a naming convention some tools and download sites adopted to signal "this is Xvid video", and the actual file underneath is an AVI. Our output is honest about this internally: the file opens with the RIFF/AVI signature and declares the xvid FourCC, so any player that reads AVI will read it correctly once it agrees to try.

Do I need to rename the download to .avi?

Usually, yes, and it is harmless. Most players decide how to open a file from its extension, and few have .xvid on their list — so a perfectly valid file can simply refuse to open. Renaming clip.xvid to clip.avi changes nothing inside the file and makes it behave normally everywhere. VLC and ffmpeg-based tools sniff the content and will play it either way; Windows Media Player, QuickTime and most hardware players will not.

Why can I not choose a different video codec here?

Because the extension already names it. On a .mp4 or .mkv target the container can hold many codecs, so a dropdown makes sense; on this page the whole point is Xvid, so Xvid is the only entry. If you want an AVI with a different codec inside — MPEG-4, DivX or MJPEG — use AVCHD to AVI, where the codec choice is open.

The quality slider goes from 1 to 31 — what number should I use?

Lower is better, and the useful window is narrower than the range suggests. The control opens at 5, which is a high-quality setting; 2-4 is near-transparent and produces large files, 6-10 is a sensible middle ground for camcorder footage, and above about 15 the blocking becomes obvious. This is a quantiser scale, not the 16-51 CRF scale used by H.264, so a number you remember from an H.264 workflow will be badly wrong here — 23 on this slider is a very low-quality file.

Will the Xvid file be smaller than the AVCHD clip?

Sometimes, but do not count on it. Xvid is a generation behind the H.264 that AVCHD records with, so matching the camcorder's picture quality costs more bits. Converting a six-second 1440×1080 AVCHD-style clip at quantiser 5 with MP3 audio produced a 3.8 MB file on this pipeline — larger than the same clip re-encoded to H.264. If size is your goal rather than compatibility, AVCHD to MP4 is the better tool; choose Xvid when the destination is old software or hardware that never learned H.264.

Does the conversion deinterlace my 1080i camcorder footage?

No. There is no deinterlacing anywhere in this conversion, so interlaced fields survive into the Xvid stream and show as combing on moving subjects. Old DivX-era hardware players often deinterlace on output, which hides the problem on a TV but not on a computer screen. If you need clean progressive frames, run the clip through a desktop deinterlacer first — Handbrake's Decomb or ffmpeg's yadif — and convert the result.

Will my anamorphic camcorder clip keep its shape?

Only if you leave the resolution alone. AVCHD clips are sometimes stored at 1440×1080 with non-square pixels that stretch to 16:9 at playback, and that pixel aspect ratio survives as long as Video resolution stays on Keep original — we verified a converted file still reporting a 4:3 sample aspect and a 16:9 display aspect. Any resize flattens the pixels to square, and the picture then takes the frame's literal proportions. If you need to resize an anamorphic clip, set Width × Height explicitly to the display size (1920 × 1080) rather than using a percentage or a height preset.

Is anything copied through without re-encoding?

No. Every conversion here decodes the source and re-encodes it, so a small amount of quality is spent even when the codec family does not change. That matters most if you convert the same footage repeatedly — go back to the original AVCHD each time rather than converting an already-converted file.

Why would I choose Xvid over MP4 in 2026?

Compatibility with things that stopped being updated. DivX-certified DVD players, older set-top boxes, car head units, some in-flight and hotel media systems, and a lot of 2000s-era hardware will read an Xvid AVI off a USB stick and will not read H.264 in MP4. That is the whole case. For anything with a screen made in the last decade, MP4 is smaller and plays more reliably — see the Xvid converter hub for the other directions in and out of this format.