Convert MOV to 3GP Online
Convert iPhone MOV videos to 3GP for sharing with relatives using basic phones. Free, no uploads.
.mov · up to 100 MB
Basic phone compatibility
iPhone MOV to 3GP: share videos with any feature phone
iPhone to feature phone
Convert iPhone MOV recordings to 3GP QCIF/CIF compatible with Nokia Series 40, Samsung SGH, and Motorola RAZR.
H.264 Baseline
Re-encode from H.264 High Profile or HEVC to the Baseline profile understood by 3GP players on basic phones.
No uploads
Your family videos are converted in your browser. Nothing is uploaded to external servers.
Ready for MMS and microSD
Files of 1–5 MB per minute, perfect for sending via MMS, Bluetooth, or copying to a microSD card.
How it works
Three steps, no hassle
Upload your MOV file
Drag or select your .mov recorded with iPhone, iPad, or Canon/Sony camera. Up to several GB if your device has enough RAM.
Re-encode to 3GP in the browser
FFmpeg.wasm scales down to CIF (352×288) or QCIF (176×144), re-encodes to H.264 Baseline, and generates the 3GP container compatible with basic mobile phones.
Download your 3GP
Get the small .3gp file (typically 1–5 MB per minute) ready to send via MMS, Bluetooth, or microSD card.
FAQ
Got questions?
Basic phones with 3GP support have screens of 128×160 (QQVGA), 176×144 (QCIF), or 320×240 (QVGA) pixels. The standard 3GP resolution is CIF (352×288) or QCIF (176×144). The converter generates CIF by default, which is the maximum that most basic phones with a 3GP player can handle smoothly.
MOV files recorded by iPhones use H.264 High Profile or HEVC (H.265) at 1080p, 4K, or even 4K 60fps resolutions, with bitrates of 25–200 Mbps. Basic Nokia, Samsung, LG, or Motorola phones from the 2004–2012 era can only play 3GP with H.264 Baseline at CIF or QCIF resolution, at bitrates of 64–384 kbps. The technological gap spans two decades.
Yes — that is exactly the original use case for 3GP. The 3GPP standard that defined the format in 2001 specifically conceived it for sending short video clips via MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) over 3G networks. Mobile operators limit MMS size to 300 KB–1 MB depending on the carrier, so keep clips short (30–60 seconds at QCIF fits in around 500 KB).
Yes. Canon DSLR and mirrorless cameras (EOS, Rebel, R-series) and Sony (Alpha, ZV-series) record in MOV with H.264, H.265, or XAVC-S. FFmpeg.wasm correctly decodes all these formats and rescales and re-encodes to H.264 Baseline CIF for 3GP. MOV files with AAC audio are handled with AAC-LC audio at 12.2 kbps, the 3GP audio standard for 3G networks.
Most Nokia Series 40 phones (2004–2012), Samsung SGH (2005–2012), LG KU and KC (2006–2010), Motorola RAZR V3 and V8, and Sony Ericsson Walkman (W-series, 2005–2010) support 3GP video playback with H.264 Baseline or MPEG-4 Part 2. Playback works well at CIF and 128–256 kbps. Some very basic models only support MPEG-4 Part 2 (not H.264); in that case the clip may not play.
That is exactly the intended use case. If you have elderly relatives with Nokia, Alcatel, Doro, or any basic phone with a camera and video player, 3GP is the format those devices understand. Record with your iPhone, convert to 3GP, and send via Bluetooth, USB cable, microSD card, or MMS. The recipient does not need to install anything.
Convert MOV to 3GP: iPhone videos for basic phones, H.264 to Baseline CIF, Nokia and Samsung compatibility
MOV is Apple's video container format, introduced in 1991 with QuickTime 1.0 for Macintosh and established as the standard recording format for iPhone since the first iPhone (2007). iPhones since the iPhone 3GS (2009) record in MOV with H.264, and since the iPhone X (2017) also in HEVC (H.265). Current iPhone 15 recordings use MOV with HEVC at 4K 30fps or 4K 60fps, with bitrates up to 200 Mbps in ProRes mode. The 3GP format (3GPP file format) was defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project in 2001 as part of 3G network standards (UMTS/WCDMA), specifically for sending video via MMS and playback on devices with very limited computational capabilities. The 3GP standard defines highly restrictive video profiles: H.263 (the original codec for early 3G phones), MPEG-4 Part 2 (added in 2002–2003 revisions), and H.264 Baseline Profile (added in the 2005 revision), always at low resolutions — SQCIF (128×96), QCIF (176×144), or CIF (352×288) — at bitrates of 64–384 kbps. The gap between an iPhone 15 MOV (HEVC 4K 60fps, 200 Mbps) and a 3GP for a Nokia 6300 (H.264 Baseline QCIF, 128 kbps) spans more than three orders of magnitude in bitrate and resolution.
The most common use case for MOV-to-3GP conversion in 2024–2026 is intergenerational family video sharing. In many families, especially in emerging markets and rural communities in developed countries, a technology gap exists where younger family members record with iPhones and older relatives use basic Nokia, Alcatel, Doro, or Samsung B-series phones that only play 3GP. This situation is especially prevalent in countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, India, the Philippines, Nigeria, and rural areas of Spain, Italy, and Poland, where basic phones maintain significant usage rates among people over 65. The Nokia Series 40 — the best-selling basic phone platform in history, with more than 1.5 billion units sold between 1999 and 2014 — supports 3GP video playback with H.264 Baseline on models from 2006 onward (Nokia 6300, 5200, 2630, and later). Doro models designed for elderly users (Doro PhoneEasy 506, 508, 615) play 3GP in some versions. For these devices, 3GP remains the only functional video format in 2026, with no practical alternative from the recipient's perspective.
Convertir.ai converts MOV to 3GP directly in the browser via FFmpeg.wasm without sending the file to any external server. This is especially relevant for family videos containing personal moments — weddings, baptisms, birthdays, graduations — that should not pass through third-party servers. The conversion reduces the resolution of the original MOV (typically 1080p or 4K) to CIF (352×288) or QCIF (176×144), re-encodes the video codec to H.264 Baseline Profile (the maximum-compatibility H.264 profile, defined as level 1.3 for QCIF and level 3.0 for CIF), reduces the bitrate to 128–256 kbps, and converts audio to AAC-LC mono at 12.2 kbps or AMR-NB (Adaptive Multi-Rate Narrowband) — the native 3GP audio codec defined in the original 2001 standard. The result is a file of 1–5 MB per minute of video, perfectly transferable via MMS (with 30–60 second clips), Bluetooth, USB cable, or copied to a microSD card for direct insertion into the recipient's phone. No registration, no watermark, no quantity limits beyond available device memory.