Free online HEVC to 3GPP converter

Phones, legacy mobile players, and messaging systems may require a .3gp file instead of HEVC video in an MP4, MKV, or raw .hevc stream. Conversion usually requires both a container change and video transcoding because many 3GPP devices cannot decode HEVC.

What the HEVC format is

HEVC, also called H.265, is a video compression standard designed to deliver similar quality at roughly half the bitrate of H.264. Phones, action cameras, screen-recording tools, and current video editors commonly create HEVC video; files may use .hevc or .h265, or store the stream inside .mp4, .mov, or .mkv.

A raw .hevc file generally contains video only and has no audio track or container metadata. An HEVC video inside an MP4 or MOV may also contain audio, subtitles, timestamps, and rotation information.

What the 3GPP format is

3GPP is a multimedia container associated with the .3gp extension. It was designed for mobile networks and older phones, commonly carrying H.263, MPEG-4 Part 2, or H.264 video with AMR or AAC audio.

The container is smaller and more widely accepted by legacy mobile software than many modern formats, but 3GP does not guarantee HEVC support. A file can have a .3gp extension and still fail on an older device if its codecs, resolution, frame rate, or audio profile are unsupported.

How to actually convert HEVC to 3GPP

For a no-install conversion, use the converter on 101convert.com, select the HEVC video, choose 3GP as the output format, start the conversion, and download the resulting .3gp file. The service is free to use in a browser.

For local conversion and control over codecs, install FFmpeg and run a command such as:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -profile:v main -level 3.1 -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:a aac -b:a 96k output.3gp

Replace input.mp4 with the actual HEVC-containing filename. This command decodes HEVC, encodes the video as H.264, converts the audio to AAC, and writes a 3GPP container. For a raw video-only stream, use:

ffmpeg -i input.hevc -c:v libx264 -profile:v main -level 3.1 -pix_fmt yuv420p -an output.3gp

The -an option prevents FFmpeg from expecting an audio track that does not exist. If the source has audio, use a container file containing that audio or add a separate audio input.

For a particularly old phone, MPEG-4 Part 2 may be more compatible than H.264:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v mpeg4 -q:v 5 -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:a aac -b:a 64k output.3gp

Check the target device specification before choosing this option; some devices require AMR audio, which may need an FFmpeg build containing an AMR encoder.

Quality, compatibility, and limitations

Transcoding from HEVC to H.264 or MPEG-4 Part 2 is lossy, so the 3GP file cannot preserve all source detail. Lowering -b:v, resolution, or frame rate reduces size but also reduces quality; FFmpeg's -q:v value controls quality for the MPEG-4 Part 2 command.

For legacy devices, try the exact limits in the device manual, often a small frame size such as 176×144 or 352×288 and a frame rate of 15 or 30 fps. Keep yuv420p for broad decoder compatibility. If the source is rotated phone footage, verify the result on the target device because rotation metadata may be ignored after transcoding.