M4V to AVI Converter
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Supports: MP4, M4V
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M4V is Apple's MPEG-4 flavour — iTunes downloads, Apple TV exports, QuickTime recordings — carrying H.264 video with AAC or Dolby Digital audio. AVI is Microsoft's RIFF-based container from the Video for Windows era, and this page re-encodes your file into it for the specific case where an older Windows editor, a DirectShow-era player, or a device with a hardcoded .avi requirement will not take anything else. Worth saying plainly up front: if you only want a modern, widely playable file, M4V to MP4 is the better move, because a DRM-free M4V is essentially an MP4 already. DRM-protected iTunes purchases cannot be converted at all.
How to Convert M4V to AVI
- Upload Your M4V File: Drag and drop the
.m4v(or.mp4) onto the page or click "Add Files". Several videos can be queued and converted with the same settings. - Choose the Video Codec: Open Advanced Options. The Video Codec dropdown starts on MPEG-4 — the classic AVI payload — with H.264, Xvid, DivX, MJPEG, MS MPEG-4, MPEG-1/2, HuffYUV and others available. The Audio Codec dropdown starts on MP3; AC3, AAC, PCM and more are there if a target system expects them.
- Set Quality, Resolution, or Trim (Optional): Under File Compression the page opens on Quality Preset (Very High is preselected); Constant Quality, Constraint Quality, Constant Bitrate, Variable Bitrate and Specific file size are the alternatives. Video resolution starts on Keep original, and Trim takes a Start time and Duration if you only want part of the video.
- Convert and Download: Click Convert and save the
.avi. No sign-up, no watermark.
Which Video Codec Should You Pick?
| Codec | Rate control it uses | Quality slider range | Pick it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| MPEG-4 (starting selection) | FFmpeg qscale — no CRF mode | 1-31, lower is better | Default. The broadest match for DirectShow-era players and old editors |
| Xvid | qscale, via libxvid | 1-31 | A device or player names Xvid specifically |
| DivX | qscale, on the same MPEG-4 encoder | 1-31 | A DivX-branded player asks for it |
| MS MPEG-4 | qscale, via msmpeg4v3 | 1-31 | Very old Windows Media-era software |
| MJPEG | qscale, every frame a separate JPEG | 2-31 | Frame-accurate editing; expect a very large file |
| H.264 | True CRF | 0-51, lower is better | Smallest file at a given quality — but a legacy target may not decode it |
| H.265 | True CRF | 0-51 | Rarely appropriate for AVI; use MP4 instead |
| HuffYUV | Lossless — every size control disappears | None | Intermediate files for editing, at enormous size |
If you are converting to AVI because something old demands it, stay on MPEG-4. Reaching for H.264 or H.265 inside an AVI produces a smaller file that the legacy player you are targeting may well refuse, which defeats the purpose of the conversion.
What the Quality Controls Actually Do
The subtlety on this page is that Quality Preset behaves differently depending on the codec you chose. On H.264, H.265, VP9 and AV1 the preset picks a CRF value. On the qscale codecs — MPEG-4, Xvid, DivX, MS MPEG-4, MPEG-1/2, MJPEG — there is no CRF to set, so the preset instead scales the source video's bitrate:
| Quality Preset | Target bitrate, as a multiple of the source | Effect on an M4V |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | 1.50× | Larger than the original |
| Very High (preselected) | 1.32× | Noticeably larger than the original |
| High | 1.14× | Slightly larger |
| Medium | 0.90× | Slightly smaller |
| Low | 0.72× | Clearly smaller, softer detail |
| Very Low | 0.54× | Small, visible artefacts |
| Lowest | 0.30× | Heavy artefacts |
That table answers the most common surprise on this page: on the preselected Very High preset with the default MPEG-4 codec, the AVI targets roughly 1.3× the bitrate of the M4V it came from, so the output is usually bigger than the input. If you want the file to shrink, pick Medium or lower, use Constant Bitrate to name a figure, or use Specific file size to work backwards from a target.
The other thing to know: the Constant Quality and Constraint Quality sliders are labelled "CRF" whichever codec you choose, but on MPEG-4 and the other qscale codecs the range shown is 1-31, not the 16-51 of a real CRF encoder. It is an FFmpeg quantiser scale — lower is still better quality, but a "23" there is not the "23" you may know from H.264. Around 3-6 is visually clean on MPEG-4; 10 and above starts to show.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I convert a DRM-protected iTunes M4V to AVI?
No. Films and TV bought or rented from the iTunes or Apple TV store are wrapped in Apple's FairPlay protection, which restricts playback to devices authorised with the purchasing account. That encryption cannot be decoded by a converter, and xconvert does not remove DRM. Only DRM-free M4V files convert: your own screen recordings, camera footage, exports and downloads that were never encrypted.
Should I convert to AVI, or just rename the file to .mp4?
For most people, rename. A DRM-free M4V is an MP4 with a different extension, so renaming movie.m4v to movie.mp4 usually plays in any modern player with no re-encode and no quality loss at all. That trick does not work on FairPlay-protected files and it obviously does not produce an .avi. Convert to AVI only when a specific older program or device requires that extension; otherwise M4V to MP4 is the cleaner path.
Why is my AVI larger than the original M4V?
Two reasons stack up. First, the preselected Very High quality preset targets about 1.32× the source bitrate on the default MPEG-4 codec — see the table above. Second, MPEG-4 Part 2 is simply less efficient than the H.264 in your M4V, so it needs more bits for the same picture. To shrink the output, drop to the Medium preset or lower, switch to Constant Bitrate and name a figure below the source rate, or use Specific file size. Avoid MJPEG unless you need it — it stores every frame as a separate JPEG and produces the largest files by a wide margin.
Does converting M4V to AVI lose quality?
Yes, some. The server always re-encodes; there is no stream-copy or remux path, so the H.264 picture is decoded and compressed again with whatever codec you selected. Staying on MPEG-4 at a high preset and keeping Video resolution on "Keep original" keeps the loss visually minor for most content. Aggressive presets, a small target file size, or downscaling are where softening becomes obvious.
Why can't AVI hold subtitles, chapters, or modern codecs cleanly?
Because of how the container describes its streams. Microsoft's AVI RIFF File Reference specifies that a video stream's format chunk holds a BITMAPINFO structure and an audio stream's holds a WAVEFORMATEX structure — a Windows bitmap header and a Windows waveform header. That design describes fixed-format video frames and audio samples well and has no standard slot for a subtitle track, chapter list, or attachment. It is also why the same reference is published under DirectShow, which Microsoft's own documentation now labels "a legacy feature."
Which audio codec should I pair with the AVI?
MP3 is the starting selection and the safest pairing for legacy playback — it is what most AVI-era software expects. AC3 makes sense if you are feeding something that handles Dolby Digital, and PCM if you want uncompressed audio and do not care about size. AAC is available but is the codec most likely to trip up an old DirectShow player, which is usually the whole reason you are making an AVI.
What do the Constant Quality and Constraint Quality sliders mean here?
Constant Quality holds a fixed quality level and lets the bitrate move; Constraint Quality does the same but adds a maximum bitrate ceiling, which is useful when a device has a bandwidth limit. Both are labelled "CRF", but on the default MPEG-4 codec the scale is the FFmpeg quantiser range 1-31 rather than a true CRF's 0-51. Lower means better quality on both scales; just do not carry an H.264 CRF number across to MPEG-4 and expect the same result.
What if my source is 4K or an unusual frame size?
MPEG-4 Part 2 was not designed for very large frames, and this converter caps the encoder's dimensions when you set an explicit resolution, snapping the result to the nearest multiple of four that the codec accepts. For high-resolution sources the practical advice is to choose a Preset Resolution such as 1080p — presets set the height and let the width follow the source aspect ratio — or pick H.264 instead of MPEG-4. Note also that this converter applies no deinterlacing and no HDR tone mapping, so an interlaced or HDR source keeps its combing or its flat-looking colour. Uploads travel over an encrypted connection, convert on our servers, and are deleted automatically after a few hours; there is no sign-up and no watermark. Already have an AVI a newer app rejects? Go the other way with AVI to MP4.