FLV to 3G2 Converter

Converting FLV to 3G2: Read This First

This is one of the most niche conversions there is, so it's worth being honest before you start. FLV (Flash Video) is a dead container — Adobe's Flash Player reached end of life on December 31, 2020, though the files still open in VLC and FFmpeg. 3G2 is also effectively dead: it was built in 2004 for CDMA2000 feature phones, and the networks it served are gone (Verizon shut down its CDMA network on December 31, 2022). 3G2 also discards almost all of your resolution and quality by design, encoding to tiny QCIF-class frames. So this converts a dead format into a dead-network format, and downgrades the picture on the way. If you simply want a small, playable, shareable clip, use the FLV to MP4 converter instead — keep reading only if a specific old CDMA-era handset, emulator, or test rig genuinely requires a .3g2 file.

How to Convert FLV to 3G2

1. Upload Your FLV File: Drag and drop your .flv onto the page or click "Add Files." Several clips can be queued and converted with the same settings.
2. Pick a Video Codec: Open Advanced Options and choose under Video Codec — H.264 for mid-2000s-and-newer CDMA smartphones, or H.263 for the oldest feature phones. Set the Quality Preset, or pick a Specific file size if you have a hard size cap.
3. Set Video resolution and Audio (Optional): Under Video resolution choose a Preset Resolution like 240p, or use Width x Height to set 176x144 (QCIF) for genuine feature-phone compatibility. Default audio is AMR Narrow Band; switch to AAC for music. Use Trim, Time Range to export only a segment.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert and download your 3G2 file. No sign-up, no watermark.

Walk-through: Matching the 3G2 to Your Target Device

The whole point of a 3G2 file is compatibility with one specific old device, so the codec and resolution choices matter more than usual. The defaults aim for the broadest 3G2 acceptance, but if you know what the target handset is, tune for it:

• Oldest CDMA feature phones (pre-2008 flip phones, LG/early Razr/enV): set Video Codec to H.263 and Audio to AMR Narrow Band, with Width x Height at 176x144 (QCIF). This is the most universally accepted 3G2 pairing.
• Later CDMA smartphones (roughly 2008-2012): H.264 (baseline-class) with AMR Narrow Band or AAC, at 320x240 (QVGA), usually plays fine and looks slightly better.
• A strict file-size or bandwidth cap: leave the resolution small and use Specific file size, or lower the Quality Preset. 3G2 was tuned for 30-384 kbps cellular links, so it goes very small.
• You're not sure what the device is: start with the defaults (H.264 + AMR-NB), and if it won't play, fall back to H.263 + AMR-NB at 176x144.

The CDMA-native speech codecs named in the 3GPP2 spec (EVRC, 13K/QCELP, SMV, VMR-WB) are decoded on the playback device, but are not offered as encode options here — you'll use AMR-NB or AAC for the audio track.

Common Errors and How to Fix Them

• "The 3G2 won't play on my old phone" — the codec is probably too modern for it. Re-convert with Video Codec set to H.263 and Audio to AMR Narrow Band at 176x144. The oldest handsets only decode that combination.
• "The output looks blurry / blocky" — that is expected. 3G2 downscales to QCIF/QVGA at cellular bitrates; the softness is the format, not the converter. There is no setting that makes a 3G2 look like the source FLV. If quality matters, you want MP4, not 3G2.
• "My FLV won't upload or fails to process" — old FLV files are sometimes truncated or use a rare codec. Try the FLV to MP4 converter first to confirm the source decodes, then come back if you still need a 3G2.
• "The file is bigger than I expected" — you likely left the resolution high. Set Width x Height to 176x144 and pick a lower Quality Preset or a Specific file size.

When This Doesn't Work

If you're trying to get a Flash video onto a current phone, 3G2 is the wrong target entirely — modern iPhones and Android phones receive MP4 over LTE/5G, not 3G2 over CDMA, and the old MMS path 3G2 was built for is retired. 3G2 only makes sense for a genuinely old, offline CDMA-era handset, a carrier QA emulator, a feature-phone test rig, or a period-correct archive. If the target handset was on a GSM carrier (AT&T, T-Mobile, most international networks) you want 3GP, not 3G2 — convert FLV to 3GP instead. And for anything you actually want to watch or share today, convert FLV to MP4.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does converting FLV to 3G2 make my video look so much worse?

Because 3G2 is built to throw quality away. It was engineered in 2004 for CDMA2000 feature phones playing video at very low bitrates (roughly 30-384 kbps) on tiny screens, so the standard frame sizes are QCIF (176x144) and QVGA (320x240). Re-encoding an FLV into 3G2 re-compresses the picture and usually downscales it hard. In our testing, a clip converted to a 176x144 3G2 came out a small fraction of the source size — which is the whole reason someone targets this format, not a defect. If you need to keep the detail, convert FLV to MP4 instead.

Is 3G2 even useful in 2026?

Only in narrow cases. 3G2 was the video container for CDMA2000 phones (Verizon, Sprint, US Cellular, KDDI au), and those networks are shut down — Verizon retired its CDMA network on December 31, 2022. So 3G2 is no longer useful for live MMS or any current phone. It still has a place for playing a clip on a specific old CDMA handset that works offline, feeding legacy hardware or emulators that only accept 3G2, archiving in the period-correct container, or producing the smallest possible file for a strict limit.

What is the difference between 3G2 and 3GP, and which do I need?

They share the same MPEG-4 Part 12 container base (ISO/IEC 14496-12) and the same core video codecs (H.263, MPEG-4 Part 2, H.264); the split is the cellular network. 3GP (.3gp) is the 3GPP standard for GSM/UMTS phones (AT&T, T-Mobile, most international carriers); 3G2 (.3g2) is the 3GPP2 standard for CDMA2000 phones (Verizon, Sprint, US Cellular). 3G2 can additionally carry CDMA speech codecs like EVRC and QCELP that 3GP does not. If your target handset was on a GSM carrier, convert FLV to 3GP instead.

Which codecs does the 3G2 output use?

Under Advanced Options you can choose the video codec from H.263, H.263+, H.264, MPEG-4 (Part 2), and Xvid, and the audio codec from AAC, AMR Narrow Band, and AMR Wide Band. The default is H.264 video with AMR audio, which most 3G2 players accept. For the oldest CDMA handsets, H.263 paired with AMR Narrow Band is the most universally compatible pairing. The CDMA-native speech codecs in the 3GPP2 spec (EVRC, 13K/QCELP, SMV, VMR-WB) are decoded on the playback device but are not offered as encode options here.

My FLV file is old — will it still convert?

Usually, yes. FLV is a dead container in the sense that Adobe's Flash Player reached end of life on December 31, 2020, but the files themselves still decode in modern tools like VLC and FFmpeg, which is what does the heavy lifting here. Typical FLV files carry Sorenson Spark or VP6 video (and H.264 in later files) with MP3 or AAC audio, all of which read fine. The exceptions are truncated or corrupted FLV files from interrupted downloads — if one fails, it is usually the source, not the format.

What happens to my files after I convert them?

Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically a few hours after conversion — no sign-up, no watermark, never shared or made public. The main real-world limit on a large FLV is upload size and time, not the conversion itself; trimming the clip first or targeting a Specific file size keeps the job fast.