Convert 3GP to FLAC Online
Convert old mobile phone 3GP recordings to lossless FLAC, free, in your browser.
.3gp · up to 100 MB
What it's for
3GP to FLAC: old phone family memories at maximum quality
Family memories preserved
First words, family recordings, and Nokia/Sony Ericsson voice messages in lossless FLAC forever.
No additional degradation
Even though AMR is lossy, FLAC guarantees the best possible copy without introducing new quality losses.
Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola
Compatible with 3GP and 3G2 from all phones of the 2002–2013 era.
100% private
Your family memories are processed locally with FFmpeg.wasm. No server uploads.
How it works
Three steps, no hassle
Upload your 3GP file
Drag or select your .3gp or .3g2. Nokia, Sony Ericsson, early Android/iPhone videos, voice memos. Up to 500 MB.
Extraction and FLAC conversion
FFmpeg extracts AMR-NB, AMR-WB, or AAC audio from the 3GP and converts to lossless FLAC. No server uploads.
Download the FLAC
Lossless audio ready for permanent family archiving, transcription, or analysis in the best available quality container.
FAQ
Got questions?
This is the most important question and honesty is fundamental here. 3GP primarily uses AMR-NB (Adaptive Multi-Rate Narrowband) as its audio codec: the same codec designed for GSM telephony, optimised for voice at bitrates between 4.75 and 12.2 kbps. AMR-NB has frequency response up to 4 kHz (compared to the 20 kHz of human hearing), introduces significant compression artefacts on music or ambient sound, and its quality is comparable to a 1990s telephone call. AMR-WB (Wideband) reaches 7 kHz with slightly better quality, but is still a voice codec. AAC in 3GP (present on some newer phones) has better quality. When converting AMR to FLAC, the FLAC is lossless but the source already had very limited quality. What you get is the best possible copy of that AMR audio, with no additional degradation.
There are valid reasons even acknowledging AMR's limitations. The main reason is family memory preservation: recordings of a child's first words, voice messages from deceased relatives, recordings of family events (weddings, birthdays) from the 2003–2012 period. Although AMR audio is technically low quality, its irreplaceable sentimental value justifies preserving it in the best possible quality container (FLAC) to avoid any additional degradation. It is also relevant for oral history or sociology archivists working with field recordings on old phones, where content matters more than sonic fidelity. And for audio forensics research where even low-quality audio needs to be analysed in its most faithful possible state.
3GP was the standard mobile video format from approximately 2002 to 2013. The most popular models: Nokia Series 60 (Nokia 3650, 6600, N70, N95): AMR-NB at 12.2 kbps, the worst technical quality codec but the most common. Sony Ericsson (K750i, W800, Walkman series): AMR-NB at 12.2 kbps or AMR-WB on later models. Motorola RAZR V3 and V series: AMR-NB. Early Samsung Android (Galaxy S i9000, 2010): mix of AMR-NB and AAC depending on recording mode. Early iPhones (iPhone 2G/3G/3GS): AMR-NB in basic recording mode, AAC in other modes. High-end Sony Ericsson Walkman phones and some Nokia with Symbian S60 3rd edition used AAC-LC at 128 kbps in 3GP, with significantly better quality.
Nokia phones from the Series 60 era (2003–2010) stored 3GP videos in internal memory or on microSD card. To recover them: if you have access to the microSD card, read it directly with a card reader on PC (files are in E:/Videos/ or E:/Others/). If the phone still works, connect via USB in mass storage mode (available from Nokia S60 2nd Edition) and copy the files. For phones with Bluetooth but no compatible USB cable, use Bluetooth to transfer the 3GPs to your computer. Once on PC, Convertir.ai or FFmpeg convert the 3GPs to FLAC directly in seconds.
Yes, and this is one of the most valuable use cases. Nokia S60 and Sony Ericsson phones of that era included a voice recorder app that saved in 3GP/AMR-NB format. These recordings may include: personal voice memos, work notes, field journalism interviews, or meeting recordings in situations where there was no other option. Convertir.ai extracts the AMR-NB audio from these 3GPs and converts to FLAC without additional processing that would alter the original signal. The resulting FLAC, though technically limited by AMR, is the most faithful possible representation of the original audio and is in the most compatible format for manual transcription, automatic transcription with Whisper, or audio forensics.
3GP (Third Generation Partnership Project) and 3G2 are two variants of the same mobile video container standard. 3GP was defined by 3GPP for UMTS/WCDMA networks (European and Asian GSM/3G), while 3G2 was defined by 3GPP2 for CDMA2000 networks (dominant in North America, extensively used on Verizon/Sprint phones). Both are containers based on the ISO Base Media File Format (ISOBMFF), ancestor of modern MP4. The difference for FLAC conversion is practically nil: FFmpeg handles both formats transparently, the audio codecs (AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AAC) are the same in both, and the extraction and conversion to FLAC process is identical. Convertir.ai accepts both .3gp and .3g2 without any difference in handling.
Convert 3GP to FLAC: preserve old phone family memories at maximum quality
The 3GP (Third Generation Partnership Project) format was the universal mobile video standard during the first decade of camera phones, approximately from 2002 to 2013. Nokia (with its Series 40 and Series 60/Symbian), Sony Ericsson (including the Walkman line), Motorola (RAZR, V3), Samsung (before Android dominance), and early iPhones recorded video exclusively in 3GP. This period coincides with the birth of pocket digital home photography and video: the first recordings of newborns, the wedding and birthday videos of the 2000s, voice messages stored on the phone, notes recorded in meetings. It is an enormous family digital heritage, mostly without backup, stored in drawers in phones that no longer charge or on forgotten microSD cards.
Honesty about 3GP audio quality is essential. The predominant audio codec in 3GP files from the Nokia and Sony Ericsson era is AMR-NB (Adaptive Multi-Rate Narrowband): the same GSM telephony codec designed for maximum voice compression with minimum network bandwidth. AMR-NB operates at bitrates between 4.75 and 12.2 kbps with frequency response up to 4 kHz, compared to the 20 kHz of human hearing. In practice, this means AMR audio sounds like a 1990s telephone call or worse: it is perfectly intelligible for voice, but music, ambient sound, and sonic nuances are severely limited. AMR-WB (Wideband) reaches 7 kHz with slightly better quality. Some 3GP files from newer or high-end phones used AAC-LC with significantly better quality. When converting AMR to FLAC, the process is lossless but the source already had these limitations: the FLAC is the best possible copy of that audio.
Convertir.ai converts 3GP to FLAC entirely in the browser via FFmpeg.wasm, with full support for 3GP audio codecs: the libopencore-amrnb decoder from libavcodec for AMR-NB (the most common, present in virtually all Nokia and Sony Ericsson from the 2002–2010 era); the libopencore-amrwb decoder for AMR-WB (present in newer and high-end phones); and the native AAC decoder from libavcodec for 3GP with AAC audio (used in high-end Sony Ericsson Walkman phones, some Nokia N-series, and early iPhones in advanced recording modes). The output FLAC encoded by libFLAC at level 8 is compatible with any modern player. Accepts both .3gp and .3g2 files. No registration, no watermarks, no usage limits, and with the full local processing privacy these family memories deserve.