How to send .avi through e-mail..

I have been beating myself over the head trying to figures this out. Perhaps you can help me. I have been making small 5 & 10 minutes movies and have been trying to send them through e-mail. I know it either has to be converted or compressed. How the heck do I do this? I have tried a bunch of the applications that do this, to no avail. Please help. Thanks.