Help with dvd rip conversion?

I just spent 16 hours downloading a movie and now it wont play. It's currently in avi format. Windows Media Player refuses to play it. So I downloaded an Avi to Wav converter and it wont convert. I then downloaded DivX player and it says the file needs to be Win32 format. The converter that comes with DivX player wont convert it either. Can someone please help?