Expert's Rating
Pros
- Extremely easy to use
- Creates a new file in seconds
- Move forward or backwards frame by frame until you get to the exact position you’re looking for
Cons
- If you don’t have to edit so many AVI files, $20 may be too much to pay
Our Verdict
AVI Splitter makes it quick and painless to copy a section of an AVI with a few clicks of the mouse.
One of the most popular file formats for movie files is AVI. Although it is gradually being eclipsed by its newer (and iOS friendly) brethren format MP4, AVI still remains one of the favorite file formats for storing video files downloaded from the net. But there may be certain parts of the file you want rid of, or parts you want to keep as a separate file. In that case, BRIZ Software’s AVI Splitter ($20, 30-day free trial) is a good pick for point-and-click cutting and splicing of video files.
The main advantage for AVI Splitter, right out of the gate, is that it is utterly simple to use. . AVI Splitter dispenses with all of the technical nonsense and asks you just to set the start and end of the new AVI file to be made. Then the app does the rest – in mere seconds. To give you an idea of the speed, I extracted a 15-minute segment from a 60-minute TV program, and it was finished in less than five seconds.
The built-in video player makes it easy to find the section you’re looking for by allowing you to forward and reverse both quickly and slowly through the frames. Another interesting feature is the ability to split the AVI file up into equally sized parts. to enable you to email them easier to people (although this has perhaps become obsolete with the rise of cloud storage services—who emails files these days?).
When you first install the file, you are warned that the file is in evaluation mode for 30 days and then you have to pay the full amount of $20. This is an excellent app and I happily paid the $20, but some people might consider it to be too much money for what it does. It really depends on how often you will be using it. For regular AVI editing, it is more than worth the price, but for the occasional file here and there, people may be reluctant to open their wallets.
Its nearest rivals are VirtualDub and Avidemux, but neither offers the simplicity and ease-of-use that AVI Splitter offers. So you are in effect paying for the convenience and the speed. Whether that is worth $20 depends on how regularly you will be using it and how much hassle you’re willing to put up with from the free alternative apps.
What would make this app even better would be a portable version to carry around on a USB stick or Dropbox. But until then, I’ll happily keep this installed on my PC.
Note: The Download button on the Product Information page will download the software to your system.