Video to 3GP Converter

How to Convert Video to 3GP Online

1. Upload Your Video File: Drag and drop or click "+ Add Files" to select MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, WebM, FLV, WMV, M2TS, AVCHD, or 37+ other video formats. Batch conversion is supported — queue multiple clips and they all output as 3GP.
2. Pick Video Codec and Audio Codec: For maximum legacy-phone compatibility, leave the defaults — H.264 video + AMR audio (the 3GP standard for Symbian, Series 40, and early Android). Switch to H.263 for the broadest reach (Java J2ME feature phones from 2003-2008 only decode H.263 + AMR-NB). Pick MPEG-4 Part 2 or Xvid only if you're targeting a specific older device that requires it.
3. Set Resolution, Trim, and File Compression (Optional): Use Preset Resolutions (176x144 QCIF or 320x240 QVGA were the typical 3GP sizes), or scale by Resolution Percentage. Use Trim → Time Range to extract a clip. Choose File Compression mode — Quality Preset (Very High is the default), Specific file size, Constant Bitrate, Variable Bitrate, Constant Quality, or Constraint Quality.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert" and download your.3gp file. Files process privately on our servers — no sign-up, no watermark, no file-count limit.

Why Convert Video to 3GP?

3GP is a multimedia container defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project in April 2003 for UMTS (3G) mobile networks. It is essentially a stripped-down MP4 (both inherit from MPEG-4 Part 12 / ISO base media), restricted to a small set of low-bitrate codecs that early mobile chipsets could decode in hardware. While modern smartphones have long since moved on to MP4, 3GP is still the only video format that plays on a large body of legacy and embedded hardware.

• Legacy feature-phone playback — Nokia Symbian (5800, N95, E72), Sony Ericsson Walkman series, Samsung Series 40, BlackBerry Curve, and most Java J2ME handsets only decode 3GP with H.263 video and AMR-NB audio. MP4 with H.264/AAC will refuse to open.
• Older Android (pre-4.0) and Windows Mobile — Android Gingerbread 2.3 and earlier ship a media framework that prefers 3GP over MP4 for camera recording; converting to 3GP guarantees playback on those devices.
• Embedded systems and digital photo frames — Many cheap MP3 players, in-car infotainment units sold before 2012, and digital photo frames advertise "video support" but only accept 3GP at 176x144 or 320x240.
• MMS attachments on legacy networks — Some carriers still gateway MMS through 3GP-only transcoders; a 3GP file with AMR audio passes through without re-encoding losses.
• Forensic and archival recovery — 3GP is the canonical capture format on millions of old phones; researchers and IT recovery teams need to convert source clips to 3GP to test playback against original devices.
• Bandwidth-constrained delivery — At 176x144 with H.263 and AMR-NB you can fit a 60-second clip in under 1 MB, useful for low-bandwidth field deployments.

3GP vs MP4 — Format Comparison

Video Codec Quick Guide for 3GP

Frequently Asked Questions

Which codec should I pick for a really old phone like a Nokia 6230 or Sony Ericsson K750i?

Pick H.263 video with AMR-NB audio at 176x144 (QCIF). That is the only combination guaranteed to play on Java J2ME handsets from the 2003-2007 era. H.264 was not added to phone hardware decoders in any volume until S60v3 FP2 (around 2008), so anything older will silently fail to open H.264 3GP. If the destination is a slightly newer Symbian phone (N95, 5800 XpressMusic), H.264 at 320x240 is fine.

What's the difference between 3GP and 3G2, and which should I use?

3GP is the 3GPP (GSM/UMTS) format used by European, Asian, and most worldwide carriers. 3G2 is the 3GPP2 (CDMA2000) variant historically used by Verizon, Sprint, and other CDMA carriers — it adds support for EVRC and QCELP voice codecs but drops AMR-WB+ and HE-AAC v2. If you're not certain whether the target phone was CDMA, use 3GP; it has broader codec overlap with modern tools. We offer a dedicated 3GP to 3G2 converter if you need the CDMA variant specifically.

Why is the audio so muffled after converting to 3GP?

3GP's default audio codec is AMR-NB (Adaptive Multi-Rate Narrowband) at 8 kHz / 4.75-12.2 kbps, designed for human speech over GSM cellular. It is intentionally narrowband — anything above ~3.4 kHz is filtered out, which removes the "sparkle" of music and high-frequency consonants. If you need music quality and your target device supports it, switch the audio codec to AAC-LC at 64-128 kbps or AMR-WB (16 kHz) instead.

What resolution should I use for a 3GP file?

The two canonical 3GP resolutions are 176x144 (QCIF) and 320x240 (QVGA). 176x144 is the safe default for any feature phone. 320x240 looks much better on Symbian S60 and Android 2.x screens that can handle it. Going higher than 640x480 (VGA) in a 3GP container is technically legal but defeats the format's purpose — at that point you should use MP4 with H.264 instead.

Can VLC or modern players still open 3GP files?

Yes. VLC, MPC-HC, mpv, and FFmpeg all play 3GP fine on Windows, macOS, and Linux. QuickTime on macOS opens 3GP natively. The challenge is the reverse direction — converting a phone's 3GP recording into something your friends can play. For that you usually want 3GP to MP4, which re-muxes the H.264 stream into an MP4 container without quality loss.

Will I lose quality converting from MP4 to 3GP?

Usually yes, because you're going from a high-resolution H.264/AAC source down to a low-resolution H.263 or H.264 3GP target. The size reduction is intentional — a 50 MB 1080p MP4 typically becomes a 1-3 MB 3GP. If you want a smaller MP4 instead of a 3GP, use our video compressor; if you specifically need MP4 → 3GP for a known device, use the dedicated MP4 to 3GP converter which sets sensible legacy defaults.

Is there a file size limit, and is my video private?

There's no hard file-count limit. Per-file limits depend on upload size and your connection speed headroom — large MKVs or AVCHD source files may need to be trimmed first. files are processed on our servers and deleted automatically after one hour and not stored long-term; nothing is published or indexed, no sign-up is required, and no watermark is added to the output 3GP.

Can I trim a long video before converting to 3GP?

Yes — use the Trim → Time Range option in step 3. Set a start time and duration (e.g., start 00:00:15, duration 30 seconds) and only that segment will be re-encoded into 3GP. This is usually what you want, since a full-length 3GP at 176x144 still adds up in size on a phone with 64 MB of storage. If you only need the trim step and don't need to change format, use the standalone video cutter.

Does the resulting 3GP work for MMS?

In theory yes — 3GP with AMR-NB audio and H.263 video at 176x144 was the original MMS multimedia spec. In practice, most carriers stopped supporting MMS video over a decade ago or impose a 300 KB attachment cap. Trim aggressively (under 30 seconds) and keep resolution at QCIF if you're targeting MMS; otherwise modern messaging apps (WhatsApp, Signal, iMessage) all want MP4.