ive read responses from people...and i still can't figure it out. I go to preview an AVI file and whatever program i use says i can't or just won't even try to preview....any ideas? thanks.

This plays all but the very odd file. Choose the nearest mirror site. http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

You also need to let the file download some so that it can be previewed.

i honestly have no clue what you are talking about. most avi files are in the divx format which requires it's own codec. you can download divx player from http://www.divx.com

VLC has in-built codecs which includes (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, ...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. To see the full list look here: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.html which is a damned site more than divx player can do.

Many files are in AVI format which does not necessarily mean DivX!!! Ørbital seems to know little about all the various formats of avi & other video formats. Not taking anything at all away from divx player which is great.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ (choose nearest mirror site) It's free & no catches for turning pro or anything, & it plays almost all formats except the odd M$ file such as the odd wmv file.

exsqueeze me? heh... divx is a pretty good player i've had no problems playing avi files

Nobody is knocking DivX player! It's a very good player. But there's more AVI formats out there than just divx. And yes divx can play most of them. AVI is really what you call a container format, meaning it allows different video and audio codecs to be put together as one file. VLC can play all avi formats including Matrovski/matroska, 3ivx, XviD, etc. & it can also play mpeg 1, 2 & 4 formats. There's also CODECs list and alternate players for Movies