How to transfer and play .AVI movies on your iPhone

Posted by Winston

Wednesday, 25 January 2012 23:27

Watching movies on the go can be a great idea… especially on your iPhone/iPad. You can watch movies you which you already purchased on iTunes or manually add movies into your iTunes library from your PC. Now, here’s the next question … how do you transfer your movies from your PC to your Apple device? Well, it’s pretty simple. If the movie is already in MP4 format … just add the movie into your iTunes library by selecting “Add File to Library” under file options, then sync it. Alternatively, you can add and entire folder of movies by selecting “Add Folder to Library”.

The above same procedure can be used for all your MP3 songs. Which means you’ll be able to add all your favorite tracks straight into your iPhone/iPad/iPod. It’s as easy as 1-2-3.

However, if you ever wanted to watch a movie or video clip that’s in a different format, such as AVI … then you’ll find yourself with a problem! First of all, iTunes can’t see it and secondly, you wouldn’t be able to just “Add File to Library” using the same instructions above. But why? Because Apple wanted to be different … what a pain in the a$$ they are!

So what’s the solution?

Well, you can download FREE video converters which are available on the internet. They will convert AVI, MOV, MPG files into MP4 format. But, these video converters tend use a lot of processing power and they also take a long time just to convert one file. If you have plenty of spare time, then that’s not a problem. Give these video converters a try.

The hidden GEM

Like a lot of us … time is a precious resource. So why waste time converting all my AVI files to MP4 format, just so I can watch them to my Apple device?

Follow these simple steps below and you’ll be able to transfer all your AVI movie files to your Apple device.

On your iPhone/iPad/iPod ... go to the Apps Store and download VLC Media Player

Once installed. Follow the instructions as above. I've taken a screenshot below ...

vlc

Connect your iPhone/iPad/iPod to your computer
In iTunes, select your iOS device (in my case it's an iPhone).
Click on the "Apps" Tab (1)
Below file sharing, select "VLC" from the list in the Apps column (2)
Click "Add" (3) and when the window opens, select all the AVI files you want to add.
Once added ... the AVI files will be transfered to your iOS device.
Remember to click "Apply" (4) once the files have been transfered. A list will appear in the window.