Can .avi files be burned to a dvd?

Do it from a program like Nero or something like that (I don’t know a Mac equivalent). If you want to play it in a DVD player you usually can’t just burn the file like a data vile, but you need to burn a DVD image onto the disc.

iDVD doesn’t like avi containers. Convert it to mp4 with Handbrake first.

You can also try using Burn without converting first. My DVD player will read about 90% of the avi files I toss at it using Burn and simply burning them as data.

I do it all the time with Nero. There are other recode programs out there for free too.

If you simply make a Data DVD, the player has to be compatible to play the files on it.
If you recode the .avi, you can then play it on any DVD player and even create chapters to various files or logical breaks within the avi.
The later will burn it into the traditional .vob files for play on your DVD player like any traditional DVD movie.