Playing AVI files in macOS using VLC
VLC for macOS is available and is regularly updated, just like VLC for Ubuntu. If you can play a file using VLC in Ubuntu, it can also be played by VLC on macOS.

You can download VLC for macOS here.

Clicking the download button will download a .dmg file in Downloads folder in Finder. To install VLC, simply double-click the .dmg file. A DMG file is identified as Apple Disk Image in macOS and is mounted as a volume in Finder. To install VLC simply copy VLC.app by dragging it into the /Applications directory.



Alternatively, if you have Homebrew setup (a popular package manager for macOS), you can install VLC using Homebrew Cask by running:

brew cask install vlc

VLC for macOS is not distributed via Mac App Store. Unlike iOS App Store, Mac App Store isn't the only option to install apps in macOS. A lot of developers choose to distribute their apps independently.