Free online WTV to 3GP converter

Windows Media Center recordings are saved as WTV, while older phones and mobile applications may require 3GP. Converting the recording makes it smaller and compatible with devices that do not support WTV.

What the WTV format is

WTV, or Windows Recorded TV Show, is a container used primarily by Windows Media Center to save digital and analog television recordings. It can contain MPEG-2 or H.264 video, AAC or other audio streams, subtitles, program metadata, and broadcast-related data.

WTV files commonly appear in the Windows Media Center Recorded TV folder after a scheduled or manual recording. Some recordings use copy protection; those files may not decode or export normally, and conversion software cannot legitimately remove broadcast DRM.

What the 3GP format is

3GP is a multimedia container developed for 3G mobile phones. It is suited to older phones, basic mobile players, MMS workflows, and applications that accept a restricted mobile-video format rather than WTV or a desktop container.

Common 3GP video and audio combinations include H.263 with AMR-NB for older devices and H.264 with AAC for newer 3GP-compatible players. Its low-resolution, low-bitrate encoding can produce much smaller files, but with lower quality than the source recording.

How to convert WTV to 3GP

Convert online without installing software

You can use the free converter on 101convert.com: open the WTV-to-3GP converter, select the .wtv file, choose 3GP as the output format, start the conversion, and download the resulting .3gp file. Uploading may be unsuitable for private recordings or very large files.

Convert with FFmpeg

FFmpeg is suitable when the WTV file is not copy-protected and you need control over the mobile resolution, codecs, and bitrate. Install a current FFmpeg build, open a terminal in the folder containing the recording, and run:

ffmpeg -i recording.wtv -c:v libx264 -profile:v baseline -level 3.0 -pix_fmt yuv420p -vf scale=640:-2 -r 25 -c:a aac -b:a 96k -ar 44100 -movflags +faststart recording.3gp

Replace recording.wtv with the actual filename. The command creates a 640-pixel-wide H.264/AAC file that most relatively recent 3GP-capable devices can decode. Use an even-numbered width and height because H.264 encoding commonly requires dimensions divisible by two.

For an older phone that requires H.263 and AMR audio, try:

ffmpeg -i recording.wtv -c:v h263 -vf scale=352:288 -r 15 -b:v 384k -c:a libopencore_amrnb -ar 8000 -ac 1 -b:a 12.2k older-phone.3gp

That command depends on an FFmpeg build with AMR-NB encoding support. If the encoder is unavailable, use H.264/AAC or select the phone's supported codecs in a desktop video converter that can read WTV.

Quality, compatibility, and limitations

• Conversion does not improve the source. A low-quality television recording remains low quality, and re-encoding can reduce detail further.
• Check the target device's maximum resolution, frame rate, video codec, audio codec, and file-size limit before choosing settings. Older phones may reject a technically valid 3GP file because they support only H.263, AMR, or small QCIF resolutions such as 176×144.
• WTV recordings may contain several audio streams or broadcast subtitles. FFmpeg usually selects the default streams unless you specify mapping; inspect them with ffprobe recording.wtv when the required language or track is not selected.
• Long television recordings can produce large 3GP files even at low quality. Trim unwanted material before encoding with options such as -ss 00:10:00 -t 00:30:00, placed before or after the input depending on the required seeking accuracy.