CONVERT MP4 → 3GP (MP4 to 3GP)
Fast, secure MP4 to 3GP conversion. No registration required.
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HOW TO CONVERT MP4 → 3GP
Upload the MP4
Drop your MP4 onto the uploader. Files up to 25 MB run on the free tier without registration; paid plans go up to 2 GB.
Stream-copy or re-encode
FFmpeg probes the codecs; if compatible, it stream-copies (no quality loss). Otherwise it transcodes at matching bitrate.
Download the 3GP
Fetch the converted 3GP as soon as it is ready. Both files auto-delete within two hours.
MP4 files carrying H.264 video and AAC audio are typically sized for desktop screens, broadband connections, and smartphone displays with 720p or 1080p resolution — none of which match what 3GP was designed for. The 3GPP container format (standardized in 3GPP TS 26.244) was built to carry video over 2.5G and 3G cellular data channels, where bandwidth caps at a few hundred kilobits per second and older feature phones decode only MPEG-4 Part 2 (H.263 in the earliest profiles) video at QCIF (176x144) or CIF (352x288) resolution. Converting MP4 to 3GP remains relevant today for two real reasons: sending video to someone whose device or carrier messaging platform enforces a strict file-size ceiling (commonly 300–600 KB on MMS), and archiving footage from the 2000–2015 era in the format a legacy device actually plays. The result will be dramatically smaller — a 30-second, 720p MP4 at 2 Mbps becomes roughly 80–150 KB at 3GP's typical 100–200 kbps — but spatial detail, color fidelity, and audio quality all drop to match.
Why convert MP4 to 3GP
The primary driver is MMS compatibility and file-size compliance on networks or devices that reject large video attachments. A secondary case is playback on older Symbian, Java ME, or early Android feature phones that lack H.264 hardware decoders but include a 3GP/MPEG-4 Part 2 player in firmware. A third, less obvious case is that some carrier SMS gateways in South and Southeast Asia still transcode incoming video to 3GP internally, and pre-converting avoids a lossy double-transcode on the network side.
MP4 vs 3GP — Technical specifications
Side-by-side comparison of the technical details.
MP4
- MIME type
- video/mp4
- Container
- ISO Base Media File Format (ISO/IEC 14496-12)
- Common video codecs
- H.264 (AVC), H.265 (HEVC), AV1, VP9
- Common audio codecs
- AAC, MP3, FLAC, Opus
- Max file size
- Practically ~16 TB; 2^63 bytes theoretical
- Streaming
- Supported with faststart (moov atom at front)
- MIME Type
- video/mp4
- Extension
- .mp4
- Category
- Video Files
- Full Name
- MP4 Video
- Conversion Engine
- FFMPEG
3GP
- Container
- MPEG-4 Part 14 subset
- MIME Type
- video/3gpp
- Extension
- .3gp
- Category
- Video Files
- Full Name
- 3GPP Video
- Conversion Engine
- FFMPEG
- MIME types
- video/3gpp, video/3gpp2
- Extensions
- .3gp, .3g2
- Video codecs
- H.263, MPEG-4 SP, H.264
- Audio codecs
- AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AAC
| Specification | MP4 | 3GP |
|---|---|---|
| MIME type | video/mp4 | — |
| Container | ISO Base Media File Format (ISO/IEC 14496-12) | MPEG-4 Part 14 subset |
| Common video codecs | H.264 (AVC), H.265 (HEVC), AV1, VP9 | — |
| Common audio codecs | AAC, MP3, FLAC, Opus | — |
| Max file size | Practically ~16 TB; 2^63 bytes theoretical | — |
| Streaming | Supported with faststart (moov atom at front) | — |
| MIME Type | video/mp4 | video/3gpp |
| Extension | .mp4 | .3gp |
| Category | Video Files | Video Files |
| Full Name | MP4 Video | 3GPP Video |
| Conversion Engine | FFMPEG | FFMPEG |
| MIME types | — | video/3gpp, video/3gpp2 |
| Extensions | — | .3gp, .3g2 |
| Video codecs | — | H.263, MPEG-4 SP, H.264 |
| Audio codecs | — | AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AAC |
MP4 vs 3GP — Strengths and limitations
What each format does best, and where it falls short.
MP4 Strengths
- Universal playback — every browser, phone, TV, game console, and editing suite reads MP4.
- Supports modern codecs (H.264, H.265, AV1) with no container changes.
- Progressive streaming works with the "moov atom" at the start of the file.
- Carries subtitles, chapters, multiple audio tracks, and embedded metadata.
- ISO-standardized (ISO/IEC 14496-14) and patent-licensable via MPEG LA.
Limitations
- Codec licensing (H.264, H.265) carries royalty costs for commercial use.
- Streaming requires the moov atom at the start — a misplaced atom breaks web playback.
- Not ideal for lossless or professional editing workflows (use ProRes or DNxHD instead).
3GP Strengths
- Extremely low bitrate and file size — great for 2G/3G networks.
- Universal playback in feature phones and early smartphones.
- Based on MP4 — easy to convert and handle with modern tools.
- Mandatory codec in every 3G device since 2001.
Limitations
- Tiny resolutions — rarely above 320×240 in practice.
- H.263 video is far behind H.264 in compression efficiency.
- Metadata support is minimal.
Quality & Compatibility
3GP mandates MPEG-4 Part 2 (Visual Simple Profile) or H.263 for video, and AMR-NB (Adaptive Multi-Rate Narrowband) or AAC-LC for audio. Neither MPEG-4 Part 2 nor H.263 is as efficient as H.264: at the same bitrate you lose roughly 30–40 percent of spatial resolution quality. Alpha channel transparency is not supported in either codec inside 3GP; any transparent overlay in the source is composited against black or white before encoding. Bit depth is capped at 8 bits per channel — no HDR, no 10-bit color, and the YUV color space is always 4:2:0. Frame size is conventionally downscaled to QCIF or CIF; attempting to encode 1080p into a 3GP container works syntactically but produces files most 3GP-compliant players refuse or display incorrectly. Audio goes from stereo AAC (typically 128–192 kbps in the source MP4) down to mono AMR-NB at 12.2 kbps — a perceptible drop in speech intelligibility and a significant loss of music fidelity. Container-level metadata (title, artist, GPS coordinates from the original MP4 moov atom) is mostly preserved in the 3GP udta box, but chapter markers and closed-caption tracks are stripped.
Tips for Best Results
- Target QCIF (176x144) or CIF (352x288) resolution explicitly rather than letting the encoder auto-scale, because most hardware 3GP decoders on feature phones validate the resolution against their profile table and refuse non-standard dimensions even if the container is otherwise valid.
- If the goal is MMS delivery rather than feature-phone playback, check the carrier's MMS size limit before encoding: keeping the total file under 300 KB usually means a video bitrate of 80–100 kbps and AMR-NB audio, while a 600 KB ceiling lets you push to 150–180 kbps and marginally better picture quality.
- The source MP4's audio track is almost certainly stereo; AMR-NB in 3GP is mono only, so the encoder will down-mix both channels before encoding — if the video has a voice-over or dialogue centered in the stereo field this is fine, but music with hard-panned instruments will sound unbalanced and you should consider pre-mixing to mono at the source rather than relying on automatic down-mix.
Frequently Asked Questions
Only when it has to. If the codecs inside MP4 (usually H.264 or H.265 for video, AAC for audio) are accepted by 3GP, we stream-copy — the bytes are repackaged into the new container with zero re-encoding and no quality loss. When the source uses a codec the target does not support, we transcode at a matching bitrate to keep the visual quality close to the original.
With stream copy, expect the job to finish in seconds to tens of seconds regardless of video length — the work is mostly rewriting the container. Transcoding is slower (roughly real-time: a ten-minute clip takes about ten minutes) because every frame must be decoded and re-encoded. The progress bar shows which mode applies.
Yes. Resolution, frame rate, colour space and bit depth are preserved by default; stream copy is literally bit-identical on these parameters. If you explicitly pick a lower bitrate or a different codec in Advanced, the output is rebuilt to those settings, but the default is always "match the source".
MP4 Video
Source formatMP4 is the most universally supported video container format. It typically uses H.264 or H.265 video codecs with AAC audio, providing an excellent balance of quality and file size across all devices and platforms.
3GPP Video
Target format3GP is a multimedia container designed for 3G mobile phones. It stores video and audio at low bitrates optimized for limited bandwidth. Many early mobile phone recordings use this format.
Going the other way? Convert 3GP back to MP4 with the same engine.
Common Use Cases
Share across platforms
Send 3GP files to anyone without worrying about whether they have the right software for MP4.
Embed in documents
Drop 3GP output into Word, Google Docs, PowerPoint, Notion or a website without conversion warnings.
Optimize size
3GP often produces smaller files than MP4 for web, email and storage.
Archive & future-proof
Store in a widely-supported format that will still open on future operating systems without legacy plugins.
MP4 vs 3GP — Typical file sizes
Approximate file sizes for common scenarios.
- Smartphone video (1080p, 1 min) 60–120 MB
- 4K video (1 min, H.265) 200–400 MB
- Streamed movie (90 min, H.264) 1–4 GB
- 1-min MMS video (176×144) 300-800 KB
- 5-min phone clip (320×240) 5-15 MB
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10-bit color grading workflows, Apple ProRes mastering, and automated watch-folder queues.
Related comparisons
See these formats side by side to understand which fits your use case best.
Related Guides
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Read guide →AAC: Advanced Audio Coding — The Format Behind Every MP4 and iPhone
Complete AAC guide: LC, HE-AAC v1/v2, AAC-ELD profiles, M4A vs ADTS containers, FFmpeg libfdk_aac encoding, VBR modes, Python Pydub and Mutagen metadata...
Read guide →
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