Why convert 3GP to AVI?
3GP was designed for early mobile phones, producing compact files at low resolutions. .AVI is accepted by legacy video editors and older playback hardware that cannot open 3GP or MP4 files. Most conversions today happen when someone needs to load old phone footage into a desktop editing suite.
How to convert 3GP to AVI
VLC media player FREE
Go to Media > Convert/Save, add your .3gp file, set the encapsulation to AVI, and click Start.
FormatFactory FREE
Add your .3gp file, choose AVI as the output format, and convert - supports batch processing.
AviDemux OPEN-SOURCE
Open your .3gp file in AviDemux, set the output container to AVI, and save.
Command line - ffmpeg CLI
Run ffmpeg -i input.3gp output.avi to re-encode your file with default settings.
Programs that convert 3GP
About these formats
.3GP
3GPP Multimedia File
A 3GP file is a video or audio container made for older 3G mobile phones, essentially a stripped-down MP4 built for low bandwidth. Open it with the free VLC media player, which handles 3GP…
Open .3GP details →
.AVI
Audio Video Interleave
An AVI file is a video container created by Microsoft in 1992. To open one, use VLC media player - it includes the DivX/Xvid codecs old AVIs need and works on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android…
Open .AVI details →Quality & what to watch
- AVI files are typically 3-8× larger than the source 3GP at default bitrate settings.
- AMR audio - common in old phone recordings - is not supported inside AVI and is automatically re-encoded to MP3.
- Re-encoding introduces minor quality loss; at the low resolutions typical of 3GP (under 480p) this is usually not visible.
