Convert 3GP to MOV Online
Convert legacy 3GP mobile phone videos to QuickTime MOV for the Apple ecosystem. Free, no server uploads.
.3gp · up to 100 MB
What you can do
Bring your old phone memories into the Apple ecosystem
Nokia and Sony Ericsson memories
Videos recorded with 3G phones from 2003-2012 converted to Apple's MOV format for editing and preservation.
100% private
Your personal memories never leave your device. Conversion happens in local WebAssembly.
H.263 → H.264
The H.263 codec in older 3GPs is upgraded to H.264, the standard compatible with the entire Apple ecosystem.
iMovie and Final Cut Pro
MOV with H.264 imports natively into iMovie, Final Cut Pro, and the macOS Photos app.
How it works
Three steps, no hassle
Upload your 3GP file
Drag or select the .3gp — videos recorded with Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, or other mobile phones from 2003-2012. No signup.
H.264 re-encoding in the browser
The H.263 or H.264 video inside the 3GPP container is decoded and re-encoded to H.264 inside the QuickTime MOV container on your device via WebAssembly.
Download your MOV
A .mov file with your memories ready to import into iMovie, Final Cut Pro, or QuickTime Player on any modern Mac.
FAQ
Got questions?
3GP (3GPP file format) is a multimedia container defined by the 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) consortium in technical standard 3GPP TS 26.244. It was designed specifically for third-generation (3G) mobile phones, aiming to provide video with the smallest possible file size on devices with slow processors, little memory, and slow data connections (GPRS/EDGE/3G). 3GP is technically a simplified version of the MPEG-4 Part 12 (ISO/IEC 14496-12) container, meaning it shares the same structural foundation as MP4 and MOV. Video in 3GP uses H.263 (in pre-2005 phones) or H.264 Baseline Profile (in newer devices), optimized for low bitrate.
macOS and Apple applications don't include native support for the H.263 codec used by older 3GPs. Although QuickTime Player can play some modern 3GPs with H.264, compatibility is inconsistent and Final Cut Pro or iMovie don't import 3GP directly. Converting to MOV with H.264 guarantees playability and editability across the entire Apple ecosystem, including integration with iCloud and macOS Photos.
If the 3GP contains H.264, the video can be remuxed without re-encoding (no additional quality loss). If it contains H.263 (common in pre-2007 3GPs), re-encoding to H.264 is required. Since original 3GP videos have low resolutions (176×144, 320×240, or 352×288 typically) and reduced bitrates due to the era's mobile hardware limitations, the conversion produces the best possible MOV from the available data. The original resolution cannot be improved, but the resulting MOV plays perfectly on all modern systems.
Not directly. iMovie doesn't natively import 3GP. Converting to MOV is the necessary step to bring those videos into the Apple ecosystem. Once converted to MOV with H.264, they import seamlessly into iMovie for editing, into the macOS Photos app for library organization, or into QuickTime Player for direct playback.
Yes. 3GP files contain audio, usually in AMR (Adaptive Multi-Rate) format, the voice codec designed for mobile communications and standardized by 3GPP, or occasionally AAC. During conversion, AMR audio is transcoded to AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) for Apple ecosystem compatibility. The sync between video and audio is preserved in the resulting MOV file.
Yes. 3G2 (3GPP2) is a variant of the 3GP format defined by 3GPP2, the consortium that standardized CDMA2000 networks used primarily in the United States and Japan (carriers like Verizon, Sprint, KDDI). CDMA phones (like those from Sprint and Verizon in the US) generated 3G2 instead of 3GP. Technically they are nearly identical and both convert to MOV with the same process.
Convert 3GP to MOV: recover your old phone videos in the Apple ecosystem
The 3GP format is part of the history of mobile telephony. Defined by the 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) consortium in technical specification TS 26.244, it was the video standard for third-generation mobile phones from the early 2000s. Virtually all Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Samsung, and LG phones with video recording capability between 2003 and 2010 recorded in 3GP. The format was designed with one fundamental constraint: maximize compatibility and minimize file size to adapt to the severe limitations of era phones — ARM processors at 100-300 MHz, 16-64 MB of RAM, and GPRS or EDGE data connections at 20-100 Kbps speeds. The result is videos with modest resolutions (QCIF 176×144 or CIF 352×288), bitrates of 64-128 Kbps, and H.263 codec (in pre-2007 devices) or H.264 Baseline Profile (in later devices). Despite their modest technical quality, 3GP files are irreplaceable as personal historical documents: birthdays, children's first steps, trips, family events recorded in an era when high-resolution smartphones didn't exist.
The need to convert 3GP to MOV arises primarily from two contexts. The first is personal memory preservation: people who find old phones or memory cards with 3GP files and want to incorporate those videos into their photo and video library in the Apple ecosystem — whether in the macOS Photos app, in iCloud, or edited in iMovie to create family compilations. The second context is content production: creators who want to recover archival footage from events filmed in the 3GP era to include in documentaries, nostalgic videos, or editing projects in Final Cut Pro. MOV with H.264 is the format that best integrates with the entire Apple ecosystem: Final Cut Pro imports it directly without intermediate conversion, iMovie accepts it without issues, and QuickTime Player plays it on any Mac from OS X 10.9 onward.
The technical process of converting 3GP to MOV varies depending on the video codec of the source file. 3GPs with H.263 (the mobile video codec defined in ITU-T H.263, an evolution of H.261 optimized for low bitrate) require full re-encoding to H.264, since H.263 is not natively supported by the Apple ecosystem. 3GPs with H.264 Baseline Profile (the H.264 profile designed for resource-limited devices, defined in ISO/IEC 14496-10) can be directly remuxed into the MOV container without re-encoding, preserving the original's quality. AMR (Adaptive Multi-Rate) audio, the voice codec defined in 3GPP TS 26.071 and designed specifically for mobile communications at bitrates of 4.75 to 12.2 Kbps, is transcoded to AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) for Apple ecosystem compatibility. Convertir.ai runs this entire process in WebAssembly inside the browser, ensuring your personal videos are not transmitted to any external server during conversion.