MOV to AMR Converter

Convert MOV to AMR: What This Tutorial Covers

This tool takes the audio track out of a MOV video, discards the picture, and re-encodes the sound as AMR — the low-bitrate speech codec built for mobile phones and MMS. It is meant for spoken-word recordings (voice memos, interviews, lectures, voicemail-style clips) that you need to shrink to a tiny file; it is the wrong choice for music, which you should send to MOV to MP3 instead. Below you will set the AMR mode, bitrate, and sample rate correctly, and avoid the mistakes that make AMR output sound muffled.

How to Convert MOV to AMR

1. Upload Your MOV File: Drag and drop or click "Add Files". Batch upload works — drop several MOV clips and each one extracts to its own AMR file, downloadable individually or as a single ZIP.
2. Pick the AMR Codec — Narrowband or Wideband: Open File Compression and set the Audio Codec to AMR-NB (narrowband, 8 kHz) for maximum compatibility with old phones and MMS, or AMR-WB (wideband, 16 kHz) for clearer voice when the target device supports it.
3. Set Bitrate and Sample Rate (Optional): Use Constant Bitrate to choose an AMR rate (AMR-NB offers 4.75–12.2 kbps; AMR-WB offers 6.60–23.85 kbps). Leave Audio Sample Rate on 8000 Hz for AMR-NB or 16000 Hz for AMR-WB, and keep Audio Channel on Mono — AMR is a mono codec. Use Trim to export only the part of the recording you need.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert. Each MOV produces one AMR file. 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.

Walk-through: Picking the Right AMR Mode and Bitrate

AMR comes in two flavours, and choosing the wrong one is the most common reason output sounds bad. AMR-NB (narrowband) samples at 8 kHz and only carries the 200–3400 Hz band — the same range as a landline phone call. That is enough for intelligible speech and produces extremely small files, but it strips everything above ~3.4 kHz, so sibilants and any music underneath the voice will sound dull. AMR-WB (wideband, standardised by the ITU-T as G.722.2) samples at 16 kHz and carries 50–7000 Hz, which sounds noticeably more natural for voice — at the cost of larger files and narrower device support.

Match the bitrate to the mode and the content:

• Voice for an old phone or MMS — AMR-NB at 7.40–12.2 kbps. The 7.4 kbps mode reaches "toll quality" (comparable to a phone call); 12.2 kbps is the cleanest AMR-NB option.
• Smallest possible spoken-word file — AMR-NB at 4.75–5.90 kbps. Still intelligible, but expect telephone-grade artefacts on plosives and sibilants.
• Clearer interviews or lectures — AMR-WB at 12.65–15.85 kbps if the playback device supports wideband; it keeps consonants crisp in a way AMR-NB cannot.
• Leave Mono selected. Both AMR modes are mono only; the converter downmixes the MOV's stereo track for you, so there is no stereo option to set.

AMR vs MP3 vs Opus for Spoken-Word Audio

If your only goal is a small voice file, AMR is not always the best pick — Opus matches or beats it at the same bitrate and plays in modern browsers. Use this table to decide before you convert.

Common Errors and How to Fix Them

• "My converted music sounds muffled or underwater" — AMR is a speech codec with a 3.4 kHz (NB) or 7 kHz (WB) ceiling, so it discards the high frequencies music needs. Convert music to MOV to MP3 instead; reserve AMR for voice.
• "The AMR file won't play on my computer" — Desktop browsers and most default media players have no native AMR support. Play it on the phone it was made for, or convert it back with AMR to MP3 for playback anywhere.
• "AMR-WB sounds great but my old phone can't open it" — Older handsets and MMS gateways often accept only AMR-NB. Re-run the conversion with the Audio Codec set to AMR-NB at 8000 Hz.
• "The output is silent" — The MOV had no audio track, or its only track is a non-audio data stream. Confirm the source plays sound before converting.
• "I picked stereo but the file is still mono" — That is expected: AMR has no stereo mode, so the converter always downmixes to mono.

When This Doesn't Work

This converter extracts and re-encodes the audio that already exists inside the MOV; it cannot recover sound from a clip that was recorded silent, nor decrypt DRM-protected QuickTime files (such as some store-bought movies). If you need to keep the full stereo image, clean high frequencies, or any music, AMR is the wrong target entirely — extract to MOV to MP3 and, if you only want a portion, trim it first with the Audio Cutter. AMR earns its place only when the file has to be tiny and the content is purely speech.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my voice recording sound like a phone call after converting to AMR?

Because AMR was designed to sound exactly like a phone call. AMR-NB carries only the 200–3400 Hz band at an 8 kHz sample rate — the same range telephony uses — which is enough for intelligible speech but removes the high frequencies that make a recording sound full. If that bothers you, switch the Audio Codec to AMR-WB (50–7000 Hz) for clearer voice, or use MOV to MP3 if fidelity matters more than file size.

Should I choose AMR-NB or AMR-WB?

Choose AMR-NB when the file has to open on an old phone, in MMS, or anywhere maximum compatibility matters — it is the original 1999 3GPP mobile standard. Choose AMR-WB (the ITU-T G.722.2 wideband codec) when the playback device supports it and you want clearer speech; its 16 kHz sampling and 50–7000 Hz range sound noticeably more natural than narrowband, at the cost of a larger file and narrower device support.

How small will an AMR file actually be?

Very small. AMR-NB at its 4.75 kbps mode is roughly 35 KB per minute of speech; even the top 12.2 kbps mode is under 100 KB per minute. In our testing, a one-minute spoken-word clip extracted from a MOV at AMR-NB 7.4 kbps came out around 55 KB — small enough for MMS and legacy storage where MP3 would be far too large.

Can AMR keep the stereo audio from my MOV?

No. Both AMR-NB and AMR-WB are mono-only codecs, so the converter downmixes the MOV's stereo track to a single channel. If preserving the stereo image matters — for instance, a recorded performance or a field recording — convert to a stereo-capable format such as MP3 or M4A instead.

What happened to the video — can I get it back?

The video track is discarded during extraction; AMR is an audio-only format and cannot store picture. This tool only writes out the sound. Keep your original MOV if you might need the video again, because the AMR output contains no way to reconstruct it.

Why can't I play the AMR file on my laptop?

AMR has no native support in desktop browsers or most default media players — it lives almost entirely in the mobile and telephony world. Play the file on the phone it was intended for, or convert it back to a universal format with AMR to MP3, which plays in every major browser and media player.