3GP to text: the speech in an old phone's clips and recordings
Upload a 3GP file and get the words spoken in it as a transcript you can edit, with each voice labelled and each line timed. For the camera clips, voice recordings and message clips that 3G-era phones saved, and the 3GP files some Android recording apps can still save. With or without a picture, it uploads.
Transcribe a 3GP
Free: 30 min a month, no card. Your file stays in this browser until you sign up. Compare plans
- About an hour of video in about two minutes
- Free gets Word, TXT and PDF as well
Speech from a 3GP, as a transcript
Here is a real short recording, NASA's Apollo 11 landing, set out as PrismaScribe's Word download prints it: the speaker's name heading their words, a [m:ss] time at the start of each line. Whatever is said in your 3GP comes back like this, and the TXT download gives you the same lines unformatted.
Apollo 11 landing
Neil Armstrong
[0:00] Houston, uh, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.
CAPCOM, Charlie Duke
[0:06] Roger, Twang... Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot. [beeping]
Apollo 11 landing.srt
- 100:00:00,500 to 00:00:05,980Neil Armstrong: Houston, uh, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.
- 200:00:06,640 to 00:00:08,478CAPCOM, Charlie Duke: Roger, Twang...
- 300:00:08,478 to 00:00:12,494Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue.
- 400:00:12,494 to 00:00:14,720We're breathing again. Thanks a lot. [beeping]
Apollo 11 landing.vtt
WEBVTT
- 100:00:00.500 to 00:00:05.980Neil Armstrong: Houston, uh, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.
- 200:00:06.640 to 00:00:11.301CAPCOM, Charlie Duke: Roger, Twang... Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys
- 300:00:11.301 to 00:00:14.720CAPCOM, Charlie Duke: about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot. [beeping]
When the 3GP is text
What people do with the words from an old phone's files.
- Keep a voice you want to remember. A message, a toast or a story recorded on an old phone, written down so the words outlast the handset.
- Write up an old voice note. Turn a reminder, a lecture or a meeting someone recorded on a phone years ago into notes you can search and share.
- Sort a box of phone clips. Transcribe the clips copied off an old phone, then search them by what was said to find the one you want.
- Quote an old interview. Pull out a speaker's words with the time they said them, for an article, a family history or a project.
- Captions for a phone clip. Download SRT or VTT and add subtitles when you share the clip again or put it in a longer video.
- Summarise a long recording. Make a summary or a quiz from the transcript of a recorded class or talk, rather than listening again.
How to convert 3GP to text
Copy the files off the phone or the backup, then upload them in a browser.
1 Copy the 3GP over
Connect the old phone or its memory card to a computer, or open the backup where its clips and recordings ended up, and copy the .3gp files out.
2 Upload and set it going
Drop in one 3GP or a handful. Choose the language or let it detect, and add how many people speak if you know.
3 Tidy up and download
Click a word to hear it and correct it, name Speaker 1 once for every line, then download Word (DOCX), TXT or PDF, or copy the text.
30 min a month free, no card required.
The recording, in a language you read
Translate
Is the clip in a language you don't speak, or one the family abroad doesn't? Translate the 3GP's transcript into any of 99+ languages and download it as TXT, or as SRT or VTT subtitles timed to the clip.
- Translated subtitles hold on to each line's timing.
- Free comes with 20,000 characters of translation monthly.
More
Copy all
Export
- TXT
- SRT, selected
- VTT
Apollo 11 landing_es.srt
- 100:00:00,500 to 00:00:05,980Houston, eh, aquí Base Tranquilidad. El Águila ha aterrizado.
- 200:00:06,640 to 00:00:14,720Recibido, Tranq... Tranquilidad. Los copiamos en tierra. Tenían a un montón de tipos a punto de ponerse azules. Volvemos a respirar. Muchas gracias. [pitidos]
3GP in, text out
What a 3GP holds, where it comes from, and what you get back.
3GP, the file you upload
3GP is the multimedia file format the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) defined for 3G mobile phones. It is built on the same ISO base media file format as MP4. A 3GP can hold video with sound, or sound alone, as in a phone's voice recordings; the sound is often AMR or AAC. Old phone clips are often small and low-resolution, which is no problem here: only the speech is transcribed.
- Defined by
- 3GPP, for 3G mobile phones
- Built on
- The ISO base media file format, like MP4
- Holds
- Video with sound, or sound alone
- Not taken
- .3g2 and bare .amr; save as MP3, M4A or MP4
The 3GPP specification of the 3GP file format, and the uploader's list of accepted files, which has .3gp but not .3g2 or .amr.
Word and TXT, what you get back
Word (DOCX) is a document with every speaker's name in bold and a time before each line, ready to edit or print. TXT is the plain-text transcript, readable anywhere, beginning with a header that names the file, its language, its length and the date.
- Options
- Speaker names and timestamps
- Also downloads as
- PDF, Markdown, SRT, VTT
- Speech in
- Any of 99+
- Corrections
- Applied to every download
The download choices in the web app's export window.
What it doesn't do
Helpful to know before you upload an old phone's files.
- No .3g2 or bare .amr files. 3G2, the 3GPP2 variant some CDMA phones used, and AMR files on their own aren't formats we take. Save or export them as MP3, M4A or MP4 first.
- No cleaning up a rough recording. An old phone's microphone can sound rough, and a clearer recording gives a cleaner transcript. The transcript keeps what it can make out.
- No reading of text in the picture. Words shown on screen in a clip aren't transcribed; only what is spoken is.
- No video in the player. The dashboard plays the 3GP's sound alongside the transcript, without the picture.
- No shrinking a file that's too big. A 3GP above your plan's size is refused rather than reduced. Upload a shorter part or a smaller copy.
- PDF in Latin, Greek and Cyrillic letters only. For speech in any other script, choose Word, TXT, Markdown, SRT or VTT.
Good to know
- Background noise removal and custom vocabulary are on a paid plan. Noise removal costs 2× the minutes, custom vocabulary 1.25×.
- With Free you get 30 min a month, up to 15 min a day, and one file transcribing at once.
- On Free, a website upload over 15 min is transcribed for its first 15 min only. The iPhone app declines such a file.
- Top-up hours drop Free's daily and per-file time limits. The 500 MB size cap per file doesn't change.
Plans
Monthly and yearly prices for each plan; see the pricing page for the side-by-side comparison.
30 min a month, files up to 15 min
- Monthly
- $0
- Yearly
- $0
5 hr a month, files up to 5 hr
- Monthly
- $7 a month
- Yearly
- $52 a year, Save 38%$4.33 a month, billed once a year
20 hr a month, files up to 5 hr
- Monthly
- $20 a month
- Yearly
- $150 a year, Save 38%$12.50 a month, billed once a year
40 hr a month, files up to 8 hr 20 min
- Monthly
- $40 a month
- Yearly
- $300 a year, Save 38%$25 a month, billed once a year
Old recordings, kept private
- Encrypted as they upload and while stored, visible only to you and whoever you share them with.
- Never used to train AI models.
- Yours to keep until you delete them.
3GP to text FAQ
Still wondering about something? Email hello@prismascribe.ai.
What is a 3GP file?
A multimedia file in the format 3GPP, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project, defined for 3G mobile phones. It is built on the same ISO base media file format as MP4 and can hold video with sound or sound alone. Phones of the 3G era saved camera clips, voice recordings and picture-message clips this way.
How do I turn a 3GP into text?
Open a free account and upload the 3GP from a browser. Leave the language on detect or set it, then start. You'll get an email once the transcript is ready, so there's no need to wait on the page. Click words to check and fix them, then download Word, TXT or PDF, or copy the text.
My 3GP is only a voice recording. Does that work?
Yes. A 3GP with sound and no picture uploads like any other, and the transcript is the same. Sound-only 3GP files often come from an old phone's voice recorder or an Android recording app. For other sound files, see Audio to text.
What about .3g2 or .amr files?
Neither is a format we take. A .3g2 is the 3GPP2 variant some CDMA phones used, and an .amr is sound saved in AMR on its own. Save or export either as MP3, M4A or MP4, then upload that.
Will an old, rough recording transcribe well?
The clearer the recording, the cleaner the transcript. Speech picked up by an old phone's microphone can be rough, and the transcript keeps the words it can make out. You can click any word to hear it and correct it.
Can I transcribe a 3GP from my phone?
Yes, through the website in your phone's browser, or upload it from a computer. The PrismaScribe iPhone app can't pick a 3GP from Files.
Can the transcript come out as a Word file?
Yes. Word (DOCX) is one of six downloads, with TXT, PDF, Markdown, SRT and VTT, each with speaker names and timestamps you switch on or off. PDF covers Latin, Greek and Cyrillic letters; for other scripts, take Word or TXT.
Does it recognise different speakers and languages?
Yes, on every plan, up to 32 speakers, shown as Speaker 1, Speaker 2 and so on; rename one and every line with that voice changes. The speech can be in any of 99+. How speaker identification works.
Is 3GP to text free?
On Free, yes, with no card: 30 min a month, up to 15 min a day, for files up to 15 min and 500 MB, one at a time, with every download. For longer files, see the plans or buy top-up hours that never run out.
Other recordings, other downloads
Transcripts of more file types, and the full format lists for video and sound.
Read what your old phone recorded.
30 min a month free, no card required.
One recording in.
Everything you need out.