Transcribe a long 3GP file from a phone that is long retired.
A long 3GP recording from an older phone transcribes as one file: a 2.5-hour lecture comes back in about 5 minutes, and only its speech is counted. Any 3GP up to 10 hours or 5 GB is a single upload, the first 20 minutes are free, and a $6 pack of 500 minutes covers the rest.
Phone video from before smartphones
The lecture you filmed on a flip phone still has words in it.
Why it is a 3GP
3GP was the standard container on feature phones and early smartphones for both video clips and voice recordings. The audio inside is usually AMR or AAC, which is why these files stay small even when the recording ran through an entire class or ceremony.
Modest size per hour
Low-resolution phone video plus narrow audio usually lands at a few hundred megabytes an hour or less, and a voice-only 3GP far below that. A long 3GP sits well inside the 2 GB that uploads before a pack is on the account.
Sound from a pocket
Older phone microphones pick up rustling, handling noise and a room's echo. Speech still comes through, though a speaker far from the phone loses more words than one close to it. Background music and crowd noise are not transcribed; only the voices are.
When the picker hides it
Try the 3GP first. If the upload refuses the file, convert it to MP3 first with VLC (Media, then Convert/Save, choosing an audio profile), which also strips the picture you do not need. Larger copies upload best from the upload page.
Before / after
Old phone recordings usually stall at the file type.
✗ A file nobody can open
A 3GP copied off an old phone often meets software that never heard of it.
- 3GP rejected by modern upload boxes
- A desktop player as the only way to hear it
- Typing a two-hour lecture over several evenings
- Video billed even though only speech matters
- No way to jump to the part you remember
- Clips cut short at a free-tier limit
✓ Text from the old phone
Upload the 3GP whole and get back the speech as one searchable document.
- One 3GP of up to 10 hours or 5 GB
- Two and a half hours ready in about 5 minutes
- Minutes counted from the audio, never the picture
- Named speakers in the brief, quotes and chapters
- 150 minutes used from the $6 pack's 500
- Downloads in five formats from one run
Sample
A long lecture filmed on an older phone.
This is an illustrative sample written for the page, not text from a real 3GP recording. Timestamps follow the original file.
Export
One transcript. Five clean formats.
Every pack exports all five — no format is held back for a higher tier.
Plain text
De-ummed paragraphs. Ready to paste.
SRT captions
Timed to the speech. Every video editor reads this.
WebVTT
HTML5 player + YouTube uploads.
Show notes
Formatted with chapters and pull-quotes.
Machine-readable
Timestamped text for your own tools.
Pricing
Honest pricing, no surprises.
A pack from $6 (500 minutes) opens the full transcript. After that, no subscription and no auto-renew — every tier is a one-time minute pack, and credits never expire. Buy once, use the minutes whenever you need them.
Casual pack
$6/500 min
8 hours of audio — $0.72 an hour. One-time — credits never expire.
- 500 minutes of audio
- All export formats
- Unlimited AI chat per transcript
- Executive summary & key quote
Best value
$12/2,000 min
33 hours of audio — $0.36 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 2,000 minutes of audio
- Priority queue
- All export formats
- Unlimited AI chat per transcript
Bulk pack
$24/5,000 min
83 hours of audio — $0.29 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 5,000 minutes of audio
- Priority queue
- API access for batch pipelines
- All export formats
FAQ
Long 3GP questions.
How long does a 2.5-hour 3GP take?
About 5 minutes once uploaded, at roughly 2 minutes per audio hour. Older phone files are small, so the upload is usually the faster part.
What does a long 3GP cost to transcribe?
Only the speech minutes count, not the video. A 2.5-hour recording is 150 minutes and fits easily in the $6 pack (500 minutes). A file of 10 hours is 600 minutes and needs the $12 pack of 2,000 minutes.
My 3GP is over 10 hours, or split across clips. What do I do?
Older phones often saved a long recording as several clips; upload each clip, or join them in a video editor first. A single recording longer than 10 hours should be cut into two files at a pause.
Do I have to convert a 3GP first?
No, try it first. If the upload refuses the file, convert it to MP3 first, which keeps the full length and drops the picture.
Can the phone recording be in another language?
Yes. 99 languages are recognised automatically, so nothing needs setting before the upload.
What can I export, and is the file private?
TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT and JSON all come from one run. The 3GP is transcribed on our own servers, never used for training, and can be deleted along with its transcript whenever you choose.
Related
Other old and phone formats.
The old phone recording, as text. Start with the first 20 minutes free.
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