How to Burn AVI Files to DVD

For those of you who are new to the idea of burning DVDs, this article will be an eye opener. When it comes to storing your data and transferring it from your hard drive, you have several options. One is to use an external hard drive, alternatively use a USB flash drive or burn your data on a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc). The third one is my personally preferred option. Optical disks can keep your digital data intact for years; provided you keep them safe and protect them from scratching or other types of physical damage.

Things You Will Need

You will need a laptop or desktop computer with a DVD reader/writer attached to it. What good is a DVD writer if you do not have blank DVDs to write upon?

So the next item in the list of things you need is a blank DVD, or several DVDs depending on how much of data you need to burn. A standard DVD comes with 4.7 GB of storage capacity, but in actuality only about 4.5 GB of data can be written. So know the size of your AVI files and buy an adequate number of disks. The third thing you will need to burn AVI to DVD, is a computer program designed for the job.

Depending on the computer operating system in use, you have different choices. If you have Windows on your PC, the program of choice is Nero. In the next section, I explain the procedure to burn AVI to DVD using Nero 9. Then we will discuss how to burn AVI files to DVD on a Mac, where Nero doesn't work.

Using Nero

Burning AVI files to DVD on a Windows PC is rarely accomplished without Nero. It is the preferred program of most Windows users. You will have to buy this program to use it. Insert the DVD in the optical drive. Open the Nero 9 program. Choose the 'Make DVD' option and select either Video Disk or Data disk option. Next you must add the AVI files that you need to burn on the DVD. Use a video converter if you want to convert the AVI files to any other video format.

Double click on each file to add it to the DVD compilation. Make sure that the total file size doesn't exceed the storage capacity of the disk. Once you are done with adding the files, click on the 'Next' button. Don't select the multi session option as most standard DVDs come with a one time write option. Click on the burn button to copy the data to the DVD. Wait patiently for the burning procedure to complete.

Burning Files to DVD on a Mac

If you are using a Mac, Nero is useless as it is incompatible. Download and install Xilisoft DVD Creator For Mac, which works on this operating system. The procedure for running Xilisoft DVD Creator For Mac, is exactly similar to Nero. You choose the type of disk to be DVD and then add the AVI files which need to be copied to the DVD. Then you hit the burn button. All the rest is taken care of by the program. DVD2Onex is a free program for burning files to DVDs. Download and use it to burn DVDs for free.

Backing up data on discs will not only help you retrieve back data if your hard drive crashes, it will also allow you to free much-needed hard drive space. Just make sure that you store the DVDs in proper covers, which will prevent any physical damage from occurring.