MOV to 3GP Converter

Convert MOV to 3GP: What This Tutorial Covers

3GP is the 3GPP mobile container — MDN lists its MIME type as video/3gpp and describes it as designed for audio and video transmission over cellular networks for consumption on mobile devices. Converting an Apple QuickTime MOV into it is a downgrade on purpose: a small file an old handset or a size-capped upload will accept.

This page covers the four steps, then goes deeper on the two settings that actually decide whether the result plays — the video codec (where H.263 behaves very differently from the rest) and the audio codec (where the narrowband options quietly rewrite your sample rate).

How to Convert MOV to 3GP

1. Upload Your MOV File: Drag the .mov onto the page or click "Add Files" to browse. Several clips can be queued and encoded with the same settings in one batch.
2. Pick a Video Codec and Audio Codec: Video Codec offers H.263, H.264, MPEG-4 and Xvid, and starts on H.264. Audio Codec offers AAC, AMR Narrow Band and AMR Wide Band — see the walk-through below, because this group starts with nothing selected.
3. Choose a Compression Mode and Resolution: Under File Compression, Quality Preset starts on "Very High (Recommended)"; Specific file size, Constant Bitrate, Variable Bitrate, Constant Quality and Constraint Quality are the alternatives. Under Video resolution, "Keep original" is the starting selection, and Trim lets you export a Time Range instead of the whole clip.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert and save the 3GP. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers and deleted automatically after a few hours. No sign-up, no watermark.

Walk-through: The Video Codec Decides Your Frame Size

Three of the four video codecs behave normally — H.264, MPEG-4 and Xvid all encode whatever resolution you asked for. H.263 does not, and it is the one people pick for maximum handset compatibility.

We reproduced the underlying constraint directly: asked to encode a 640x480 frame, FFmpeg's H.263 encoder refuses with "The specified picture size of 640x480 is not valid for the H.263 codec. Valid sizes are 128x96, 176x144, 352x288, 704x576, and 1408x1152." Rather than hand you that failure, our pipeline snaps the frame to a legal size before encoding.

• The snap ignores your resolution setting. It picks the largest legal size that fits inside the source dimensions, so a 1920x1080 MOV encoded as H.263 comes out 704x576 — 1408x1152 is rejected because 1152 exceeds the source's 1080. Anything you set under Video resolution is overridden.
• It also changes the shape. Those five sizes are all 4:3, and the scale is applied to both axes, so a 16:9 clip is squeezed rather than letterboxed.
• If you want to control the frame, do not use H.263. H.264 at a 144p or 240p preset gives you a small file at your aspect ratio. The resolution presets set the target height and let width follow the source aspect.
• Xvid is not a third option in disguise. We checked the output: libxvid in a 3GP container produces MPEG-4 Part 2 Simple Profile tagged mp4v — the same codec and tag as the MPEG-4 entry.

Walk-through: The Audio Codec Group Starts Empty

The Audio Codec group on this page is configured with a default value that does not correspond to any of the three buttons shown, so nothing appears preselected. That is cosmetic rather than broken: if you convert without touching it, the server falls back to the container's default and writes AAC audio, which the 3GPP file format allows. Still, it is worth choosing deliberately.

• AAC is the right pick for anything musical and for any reasonably modern target. MDN lists AAC-LC, HE-AAC v1 and HE-AAC v2 among 3GP's supported audio codecs.
• AMR Narrow Band is the classic 3GPP speech codec, and it is 8 kHz mono by design. Selecting it forces the output to 8000 Hz and one channel regardless of what the source held. Speech survives that; music does not.
• AMR Wide Band doubles the sample rate to 16 kHz, still mono, and is the better speech choice when the target device supports it.

MOV and 3GP Side by Side

Codec Options on This Page

Common Errors and How to Fix Them

• "The output is squashed / the wrong shape" — H.263 is selected. Its legal frame sizes are all 4:3 and the source is being scaled into one of them. Switch to H.264 and use a resolution preset instead.
• "My resolution setting was ignored" — Same cause. The H.263 frame-size snap runs after the resolution controls and overrides them.
• "The audio sounds like a phone call" — AMR Narrow Band is selected, which forces 8 kHz mono. Choose AAC for anything other than speech.
• "The music is mono now" — Both AMR options are mono-only; the downmix is unavoidable with those codecs. AAC keeps the channel layout.
• "The file is still too big" — Quality Preset targets quality, not size. Switch File Compression to "Specific file size" and enter your cap, or trim the clip to a Time Range first.
• "The interlacing lines are still visible" — Our pipeline does not deinterlace. A combed source stays combed through the conversion; deinterlace it in an editor before uploading.

When This Doesn't Work

3GP is a delivery format for hardware that is largely retired, so the honest failure mode is that you did not need it. If the goal is a smaller file for a modern phone or a messaging app, MOV to MP4 gives you far better quality at the same size and plays everywhere; if the goal is simply less data from the same file, compress MOV keeps the container. If the target device is on a CDMA network rather than GSM/UMTS, its container is 3G2 — use MOV to 3G2. And if the clip is long, trimming the source with video-cutter before converting is faster than uploading the whole thing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my H.263 output come out 704x576 when I asked for 240p?

Because H.263 accepts only five frame sizes and the pipeline picks one for you before encoding — the largest legal size that fits inside the source frame. A 1080p source therefore lands on 704x576. The resolution controls are applied for every other codec on this page; H.263 is the exception. Select H.264 if you want the size you chose.

Which codec pairing is most likely to play on an old handset?

H.263 video with AMR Narrow Band audio. That combination is the lowest common denominator of the 3GPP era, and it is what a device from that period was built to decode. Accept that you are getting a 4:3 frame at 8 kHz mono audio — on a phone from that generation, nothing better would have played anyway.

Nothing is selected under Audio Codec — is that a problem?

No. The group's configured default value does not match any of the three visible buttons, so the interface shows none of them highlighted. Converting anyway produces AAC audio, because the server falls back to the 3GP container's own default. Select AAC, AMR Narrow Band or AMR Wide Band explicitly if you want to be certain what you are getting.

What is the difference between 3GP and 3G2?

They are sibling containers for different mobile networks. 3GP comes from the 3GPP, whose members standardised GSM and UMTS; 3G2 comes from 3GPP2, which standardised CDMA2000. ExifTool describes 3G2 as "3rd Gen. Partnership Project 2 a/v" and classifies it as QuickTime-based, the same lineage 3GP shares. MDN lists both under one entry with MIME types video/3gpp and video/3gpp2. If your handset is a CDMA device, convert to 3G2 instead.

Will converting back to MP4 later restore the quality?

No. The 3GP encode discards detail permanently, and if H.263 was involved the frame was also scaled down and reshaped. Converting 3GP back to MP4 re-wraps what survived; it cannot rebuild what was thrown away. Keep the original MOV if you may need full quality again.

Is the conversion a re-encode or a re-wrap?

Always a re-encode. Our servers decode the MOV's video and audio and encode fresh streams into the 3GP container — there is no stream-copy path, which is why the settings on this page have real effect and why the conversion takes proportionally longer on long clips.

Can I put a 1080p or 4K video in a 3GP file?

Technically yes with H.264 and "Keep original" resolution, but it defeats the purpose. Devices that need 3GP cannot decode those resolutions, and anything that can decode them would rather have MP4. If you find yourself keeping full resolution, the container you actually want is MP4.

How are my files handled during the conversion?

They are uploaded over an encrypted connection, converted on our servers and deleted automatically after a few hours — never shared, never made public, no sign-up and no watermark. The real-world limit on a long MOV is upload time rather than the encode; trimming to a Time Range or targeting a Specific file size keeps the job short.