Free tool
3GP to text converter
Drop a 3GP file here to turn 3GP to text: the converter takes the sound out of the phone video in your browser and transcribes it, giving each paragraph its time in the clip. A 3G2 file works the same way.
- Free
- Reads .3gp and .3g2
- Nothing is stored
Drop your 3GP video here, or Choose your 3GP video
MP4, MOV, M4V, MKV or WebM video. Up to 30 minutes of each file, 3 free files a day. The language is detected automatically.
Have years of phone clips to get through? NoteOwl transcribes MP4 videos and audio files on your Mac with unlimited transcription, and labels every speaker.
How it works
How do you convert 3GP to text?
Drop the 3GP on the converter, or pick it. The browser opens the clip on your device, decodes its AMR or AAC sound and splits it where the speaker pauses. The short pieces are transcribed one after another, and the text fills in as you wait.
- 1
Pick the clip
Transcribe a 3GP or 3G2 copied from a phone, an old memory card or a backup.
- 2
Its speech becomes text
Each paragraph shows when it starts in the clip. A 3GP is transcribed for up to 30 minutes.
- 3
Save what you need
Copy the words, or download .txt, .srt, .vtt or .docx, named like the clip.
What is a 3GP file?
A video format from 3GPP, the mobile standards body, defined in its TS 26.244 specification. The converter opens it as an MP4, which it closely resembles. Its picture is typically H.263 or H.264 and its sound AMR or AAC, the formats Android lists for .3gp files.
- Picture
- FormatH.263 or H.264
- DetailsNever decoded here
- Sound
- FormatAMR-NB (narrowband)
- Details4.75 to 12.2 kbps, sampled at 8 kHz
- Sound, wideband
- FormatAMR-WB
- Details6.6 to 23.85 kbps, sampled at 16 kHz
- Sound, AAC
- FormatAAC-LC
- DetailsMono or stereo
| Track | Format | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Picture | H.263 or H.264 | Never decoded here |
| Sound | AMR-NB (narrowband) | 4.75 to 12.2 kbps, sampled at 8 kHz |
| Sound, wideband | AMR-WB | 6.6 to 23.85 kbps, sampled at 16 kHz |
| Sound, AAC | AAC-LC | Mono or stereo |
Can you transcribe a 3GP with AMR sound?
In Safari, yes; in Chrome, no. We saved one minute of speech as 3GP files with AMR-NB sound. Safari’s engine on a Mac decoded every one and cut it into three pieces; Chrome reported that the sound can’t be decoded. AAC sound worked in both.
So if Chrome turns a 3GP down, open this same page in Safari on a Mac and drop the file in again. Safari decodes AMR sound in one go rather than bit by bit, which suits files as small as these.
- .3gp: H.263 picture, AAC sound
- ChromeRead
- Safari’s engine (Mac)Read
- .3g2: H.264 picture, AAC sound
- ChromeRead
- Safari’s engine (Mac)Read
- .3gp: H.263 picture, AMR-NB sound
- ChromeSound can’t be decoded
- Safari’s engine (Mac)Read
- .3gp: H.264 picture, AMR-NB sound
- ChromeSound can’t be decoded
- Safari’s engine (Mac)Read
- .3gp: AMR-NB sound, no picture
- ChromeSound can’t be decoded
- Safari’s engine (Mac)Read
| File | Chrome | Safari’s engine (Mac) |
|---|---|---|
| .3gp: H.263 picture, AAC sound | Read | Read |
| .3g2: H.264 picture, AAC sound | Read | Read |
| .3gp: H.263 picture, AMR-NB sound | Sound can’t be decoded | Read |
| .3gp: H.264 picture, AMR-NB sound | Sound can’t be decoded | Read |
| .3gp: AMR-NB sound, no picture | Sound can’t be decoded | Read |
Why are some phone videos 3GP files?
Because 3GP is a mobile standard, and Android’s own recorder has offered it since the first release: AMR narrowband sound from the start, AAC from API level 10. The sample in Android’s developer guide even records just the microphone to a .3gp, so a 3GP can be sound only.
How do you copy a 3GP from an Android phone to a computer?
With a USB cable: unlock the phone, connect it, tap the USB notification and choose File Transfer. A window opens on the computer: drag the 3GP out of it, then drop it on the converter.
- 1
Connect
Unlock the phone and plug it into the computer with a USB cable.
- 2
Allow file transfer
Tap the “Charging this device via USB” notification, then choose File Transfer under Use USB for.
- 3
Copy the clip
Drag the .3gp from the window that opens to your desktop, and from there onto this page.
How do you transcribe a backlog of phone clips without limits?
Save each 3GP’s sound with the audio extractor, which keeps AAC sound as an M4A without re-encoding, and import the files into NoteOwl. It transcribes them on your Mac, unlimited, with on-device AI models, and labels each speaker.
FAQ
Questions about converting 3GP to text
Is the 3GP to text converter free?
Yes. There’s no sign-up, and you can transcribe 3 3GP files a day, up to 30 minutes from each. Copying the transcript and every download, from plain text to Word, come with it.
Is my 3GP uploaded?
No. The 3GP stays on your device, where the browser takes out its sound. Only short pieces of that sound travel, over a secure connection, to a cloud AI transcription service, which transcribes each one and discards it. The picture is never sent, and NoteOwl keeps nothing.
Why does Chrome say my 3GP’s sound can’t be decoded?
Because its sound is in a format Chrome can’t decode, such as AMR. In our test, Safari’s engine on a Mac read the same AMR-NB 3GP that Chrome refused, so try the page in Safari. Otherwise, save the sound as MP3 with a video app and transcribe that.
What is a 3G2 file?
A 3G2 is the 3GPP2 version of the 3GP format, with the extension .3g2. The converter opens it exactly like a 3GP: in our test, a 3G2 with AAC sound was read in Chrome and Safari’s engine, and one with AMR-NB sound in Safari’s engine only.
Does a tiny, low-resolution 3GP still work?
Yes. The picture is never decoded, so its size doesn’t matter: our 176×144 and 320×240 test clips gave identical sound to transcribe. Only the speech in the sound track counts.
Do I need to convert a 3GP to MP4 first?
No. The converter opens .3gp and .3g2 files directly. Converting helps only when the sound is AMR and Safari isn’t to hand: then choose AAC sound in the conversion, and the new file works in Chrome too.
Keep exploring
More video to text tools
- Video to textTurn video to text free: drop in an MP4, MOV, M4V, MKV or WebM video and get an AI transcript with times, as text, SRT, VTT or Word; only the sound is sent, nothing is stored
- MP4 to textTurn an MP4 video into text free in your browser: phone videos, Zoom recordings and screen recordings; text, SRT, VTT or Word; only the sound is sent, nothing is stored
- MOV to textTurn a MOV video into text free in your browser: iPhone videos, QuickTime and Mac screen recordings; only the sound is sent, nothing is stored
- M4V to textTurn an M4V video into text free in your browser: HandBrake and other Mac video exports; only the sound is sent, nothing is stored
- MKV to textTurn an MKV video into text free in your browser: OBS recordings and other Matroska files with AAC or Opus sound; only the sound is sent, nothing is stored
The same in other tools
Phone clips into searchable notes, on your Mac
Free to download. Runs entirely on your Mac.
macOS 26 or later · Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) · 16 GB memory minimum, 24 GB recommended
About NoteOwl
NoteOwl is private AI meeting notes and memory for the Mac. It captures meetings without a bot joining the call, labels every speaker, writes summaries and action items, and builds a memory of every conversation that you can chat with — fully offline, because the speech recognition and the AI run on the Mac itself. Dictation into any app is free; Pro is a one-time purchase.
NoteOwl pricing: what’s free and what Pro adds
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