3GP video file format

3GP is a simplified version of the MPEG-4 Part 14 (MP4) container format, designed to decrease storage and bandwidth requirements in order to accommodate mobile phones. It stores video streams as MPEG-4 Part 2 or H.263 or MPEG-4 Part 10 (AVC/H.264), and audio streams as AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AMR-WB+ or AAC-LC. A 3GP file is always big-endian, storing and transferring the most significant bytes first. It also contains descriptions of image sizes and bitrate. There are two different standards for this format:

• 3GPP (for GSM-based Phones, may have filename extension .3gp)
• GPP2 (for CDMA-based Phones, may have filename extension .3g2)

Both are based on MPEG-4 and H.263 video, and AAC or AMR audio.

When transferred to a computer, 3GP movies can be viewed on Linux, Mac, and Windows platforms with programs such as RealPlayer, QuickTime and Media Player Classic, respectively. Or VLC media player on any of them.

• Most 3G capable mobile phones support the playback and recording of video in 3GP format.
• Some newer phones without 3G capabilities may also playback and record in this format.
• In iMovie '08, a movie exported using the "Tiny" setting is saved as a .3gp file and can be played on a Mac, an iPhone, an iPod touch or using Apple's .Mac Web Gallery service.