Why can't I insert or play AVI videos in PowerPoint?

Found some torrent movies or TV shows in AVI format, or some family AVI footages from your digital camcorders or mobile phone that is perfect for your PowerPoint presentation and would like to embed it to make the PPT more interesting and appealing? However, many people encountered error message when they tried to insert the AVI video file into PowerPoint slide, no matter PowerPoint 2016, 2010, 2003, 2007 or lower version. Things could get even worse, you successfully add an AVI movie in PowerPoint, but you still get a "Cannot play back the file. The format is not supported" message when you play the video during a presentation. Well, read on to learn detailed reason and solution.

Insert AVI to PowerPoint

Why we can’t insert an AVI video into PowerPoint PPT successfully?

First, look at the best Video Formats for PowerPoint:

The best video formats for PPT can be varied depending on what version of PowerPoint and what computer system you are using. Here is a concise list:

1. PowerPoint 2007 and lower version

According to Microsoft, PowerPoint 2007 and lower version only support WMV, AVI, ASF, and MPG (MPEG-1) video formats, However, some .avi files may require additional codecs, if your computer doesn’t install according video and audio codec, the AVI video embed may cannot playback in PowerPoint 2007/2003/2002/2000/97/95.

For the best video playback experience,

If you are using a Windows 8 or Windows 10 computer, we recommend you to use .mp4 videos encoded with H.264 video and AAC audio to inserted to PowerPoint 2013.
If you a Windows 7 or Windows Vista or Windows XP computer, we strongly recommend you to use WMV or MPEG-1 videos.

2. PowerPoint 2010

Only support .mp4, .mov, and .qt formats if the Apple QuickTime player is installed. That’s why you can’t play AVI in PowerPoint 2010.

3. PowerPoint 2013 or 2016

Only support .mp4 videos encoded with H.264 video (a.k.a. MPEG-4 AVC) and AAC audio. That’s why you can’t play AVI in PowerPoint 2013 or 2016.

In order to play all kinds of AVI in PowerPoint with no restriction, the simple and efficient way is to convert AVI to WMV (with WMV8 codec), AVI (with some ancient codec) or MPG format, which are universal formats among all versions of PowerPoint. This solution will ensure that you can insert any AVI files into PowerPoint slide for playing successfully. Here are two parts to finish your task.

Part I. Convert AVI to PowerPoint supported video formats

Recommended Tool: Dimo Videomate (Videomate for Mac)

This is a nice small video converter took kit that is just the right AVI to PowerPoint Converter which can convert all kinds of AVI to PowerPoint supported WMV, AVI, MPG, MP4. Besides converting AVI to PowerPoint, it also helps to convert any other video formats including MOV, MKV, FLV, MP4, VOB, 3GP, MXF, MTS, AVCHD, WebM, and etc to PowerPoint video or audio format. It even supports to convert FLAC, OGG, AC3, etc to PowerPoint compatible AIFF, MP3, WMA, WAV, AU. with fast encoding speed and excellent output quality. After the conversion, you can easily use your movie files in any version of PowerPoint Presentation including PowerPoint 2016, 2010, 2007, 2003, 2000, 2002, 2005 or even PowerPoint 95, 97.

It also features basic editing features such as trimming, rotating, cropping, watermarking, adding effecting, 3D creating. By using the trimming action you can clip a specific duration from a video clip and turn it into PowerPoint preferred format. Now just get the right version and follow the guide below to convert AVI to PowerPoint supported video formats.

Free Download Videmate (Win/Mac):

Simple clicks to convert AVI to PowerPoint supported formats

1. Load AVI videos

Click the"Add File" button to load AVI files from your computer or other devices like USB device, camcorder, AVI player, etc. You can also directly drag the files you want to convert to the main interface. Double click the video to preview it with the built-in AVI player.

PowerPoint video converter

2. Select output format

Click Select Format bar and choose PowerPoint supported video format as output format.

Tips:

To insert and play AVI in PowerPoint for Windows, converting MP4 to MPEG-1 is recommended, you may also try WMV, AVI, ASF as the output video format. For PowerPoint 2013 and later version, you can select MP4 format which has already been preset as H.264/AAC by default.
To add and play AVI in PowerPoint for Mac, converting AVI to MOV or H.264 MP4 is recommended.

3. Edit the AVI videos (Optional)

Click the "Edit" button and edit your videos before processing format conversion. There are main seven functions available: Trim, Adjust, Watermark, Effect and 3D. When enter the edit > Trim interface, you should either drag the slider bar back and forth or set the start time and the end time for the video to get the part you want.

4. Do video/audio settings (Optional)

This AVI to PPT converter looks to be a simple program until you see all the rather complex advanced options hidden away in the "Setting" button, where there has support of configuration for each of the variety of video formats and codecs.

PPT video settings

In addition to converting AVI to PowerPoint video, the program has presets from columns on the left side for dozens of popular devices like the iPad, iPhone, TV, VR and many more. Just select a preset and it will fill in all the settings for you accordingly.

4. Start the conversion

Click "Start" to begin converting AVI to PowerPoint compatible video files. After the conversion, you will get the desired videos in the destination folder.

Part II. Insert your converted AVI video to PowerPoint

Before starting adding video to PowerPoint, you need to create a folder and put both your converted video and your PowerPoint presentation in this folder. Then open the PowerPoint in this folder to insert the converted video file which is just located in this folder.

Open your PowerPoint presentation and click "Insert".

For PowerPoint 2013, click the Video drop-down arrow, then select Video on My PC. Locate and select the desired video file, then click Insert.
For PowerPoint 2007, choose Movie and select the video clips.
For PowerPoint 2003, select "Movie and Sounds" > "Movie from File" to choose the video clips.

In this way, you can play any kind of AVI file in PowerPoint without the limitation! The workflow is convenient and flexible in spite of the PowerPoint version you are using. Now, everything should run as smooth as clockwork. Just enjoy your vivid PowerPoint slide presentation.

Other Reasons Resulting in “Embedded Video Won’t Play in PowerPoint”

Issue 1. Video File Corrupted When Transferring

Because of network and file structure, the header information of document file and streaming media file is most likely to get corrupted. That means your PowerPoint embedded video is possibly damaged during data transfer.

Solution: Therefore, it’s best to use Zip tools to pack into a compressed file when transferring your PowerPoint slide presentation.

Issue 2. File Root Path Problem

When you transfer your PowerPoint slide to another computer, the file root path is also changed. Besides, all relevant files must be transferred together with the presentation file as well.

Solution: Develop a good habit to copy all relevant files including video files into the same folder as the presentation. Then embed video in PowerPoint again on a different computer.

Issue 3. Video Plays as A White Rectangle.

If your video shows up a white rectangle box in presentation slide but works well outside of PowerPoint, it means your file path is too long. (e.g. E:\Computer\ASicAche\WhirlCache\outputvideo\…\A\Very\Very\Very\Long\Name)

Solution: Since PowerPoint can only handle media files with the file paths of 128 or fewer characters. So shorten the file path and move to the same folder as the presentation, then the video works.

Issue 4. Video plays as A Black Rectangle.

If you want to play high-quality videos in your presentation, you may find that only audio plays but no image with a black rectangle window there. It is probable that your hardware accelerator is incompatible.

Solution: Disable hardware acceleration as following steps:

#1.Click on Start > Control Panel. #2.In the classic view, double click on the Display icon. #3.Select the Settings tab and click on the Advanced button. The Advanced Settings dialog box appears. #4.Click on the Troubleshoot tab. #5.Move the Hardware acceleration slider to None. Click Apply, and then click OK two times.

So here is the whole tutorial. Hope you have found the solution for your question and if you thnk it’s helpful, please share the tip with others. Contact us or leave a message at Facebook if you have any issues.

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