AVI to FLV Converter
FileFlip converts AVI to FLV entirely inside your browser, using FFmpeg compiled to WebAssembly. The file is never uploaded to a server: it is read off your disk, converted on your own machine, and saved back by the browser. That means no file-size limit, no queue and no account.
How do I convert an AVI file to FLV?#
- Drop your AVI file onto the converter at the top of this page, or click it to pick one from your computer. You can add as many as you like.
- Leave the target set to FLV and the conversion starts on its own. FileFlip downloads 30.8 MB of WebAssembly the first time and nothing after that, then runs FFmpeg on your own machine.
- Save the FLV file. Your browser writes it straight to your downloads folder, because there was never a server holding it.
Does converting AVI to FLV lose quality?#
It depends on what is inside the file. AVI is a container rather than a codec, so whether the FLV conversion copies the streams across untouched or re-encodes them is decided by the codecs that particular file happens to use.
Is it safe to convert AVI files online?#
Yes, because nothing is uploaded. FileFlip converts AVI files inside the browser tab you already have open, using WebAssembly builds of the same engines a desktop converter would install. Your file is read from your own disk into the page's memory, and no request carrying it is ever made.
You do not have to take that on trust. Open your browser's network panel, run a conversion, and you will see the engine come down and your file go nowhere. There is no upload, no server-side copy, no retention window, and no account tied to what you converted.
How FileFlip works lists every engine, its version and its download size, and shows how to check for yourself that nothing leaves your machine.
What AVI to FLV actually does to the file#
Converting AVI to FLV runs on FFmpeg, downloads 30.8 MB of WebAssembly the first time and nothing after that, re-encodes or copies through depending on the codecs in the file, and drops encoded streams.
| Engine | FFmpeg |
|---|---|
| Conversion path | One step: AVI → FLV |
| Downloaded to your browser | 30.8 MB, once, then cached by your browser |
| Quality | Decided by the codecs inside the file |
| You get back | One file |
| Where it runs | In a background worker, so the page stays responsive |
What survives the conversion
| What is in the file | This conversion | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Encoded streams | Dropped | The target format has nowhere to put it. |
What is an AVI file?#
An AVI file interleaves video and audio in chunks of Microsoft's RIFF structure, the container Windows has used for video since 1992 and the one most video from the DivX and Xvid years is stored in.
Keep a file as AVI when it is going into software old enough to predate MP4, which is the one situation where the format's age helps.
Convert AVI to MP4 to get the video playing on phones, browsers and TVs, and to shrink it, since what is inside an AVI is usually a codec generation or two behind.
What is an FLV file?#
An FLV file holds video and audio in tagged chunks meant to be streamed to Adobe's Flash Player, which is the only thing that ever played the format natively and has not shipped since the end of 2020.
There is no reason to create an FLV now; the only sensible use is holding on to one as the untouched original of something you have already converted.
Convert FLV to MP4 as soon as you find one, since the wrapper is the only thing standing between you and video that still plays perfectly well.
AVI to FLV questions people ask#
Why won't my AVI file play?
An AVI that will not play is usually encoded with a codec the machine does not have. AVI identifies its video by a four character code and leaves the decoder to the operating system, which is why Windows users spent years installing codec packs. Old DivX, Xvid, Indeo and Cinepak files all hit this. VLC ships its own decoders and plays most of them, and converting to MP4 removes the problem permanently.
Is AVI a codec or a container?
AVI is a container, and an unusually open-ended one. Any codec that registers a four character code can go inside, so AVI files from different eras hold wildly different things: MJPEG from a camera, Cinepak from a CD-ROM, DivX or Xvid from a download. That is why one AVI plays instantly and the next one shows a black screen on the same computer.
Does converting AVI to MP4 lose quality?
Converting AVI to MP4 nearly always re-encodes the video, so some quality is lost. AVI predates H.264 and H.265, which is what MP4 players expect, so the old DivX or Xvid stream cannot simply be rewrapped the way an MKV can. Encoding at a generous bitrate keeps the loss invisible in practice, and the result usually still ends up smaller than the AVI.
Why is my AVI file so large?
AVI files are big because of what is inside them rather than the container itself. The codecs of the era, MJPEG and DivX among them, need several times the bitrate H.265 does for the same picture, and MJPEG stores every frame as a separate JPEG with no saving between frames at all. Re-encoding the same footage to H.264 or H.265 in an MP4 commonly cuts the file to a fraction of its size.