# .3gp MIME Type: video/3gpp

> Mobile-phone video from the MMS era, built on the same file structure as MP4.

- MIME type: `video/3gpp`
- Extensions: .3gp
- Also seen as: `audio/3gpp`
- Content-Type header: `video/3gpp`
- Compress in transit: no (already compressed)
- File signature: `66 74 79 70` at offset 4 (an ISO base media file; the brand after ftyp is typically 3gp4 to 3gp6)

## Good to know

- Audio-only 3GP files use `audio/3gpp`; the CDMA variant `.3g2` uses `video/3gpp2`.
- Android's MediaRecorder can still write 3GP. For the web, transcode to MP4 — browser support for 3GP is patchy.

## Server configuration

### nginx (inside the types block in mime.types)

```
video/3gpp 3gp;
```

### Apache (.htaccess or server config)

```
AddType video/3gpp .3gp
```

### Express

```
res.set("Content-Type", "video/3gpp");
```

### Python

```
import mimetypes

mimetypes.add_type("video/3gpp", ".3gp")
```

### HTML file input

```
<input type="file" accept=".3gp,video/3gpp">
```

## FAQ

### What is the MIME type for .3gp files?

`video/3gpp`. You may also see `audio/3gpp`, but `video/3gpp` is the one to send.

### What Content-Type header should a .3gp file be served with?

`Content-Type: video/3gpp`. It's already compressed, so servers shouldn't gzip it.

### How can I tell if a file is really a .3gp?

Check its bytes rather than the extension: 3GP files contain `66 74 79 70` (`ftyp`) at byte offset 4 — an ISO base media file; the brand after ftyp is typically 3gp4 to 3gp6. On the command line, `file --mime-type name.3gp` does this for you.

## Related types

- [.mp4 — video/mp4](https://www.devkult.com/mime/mp4.md)
- [.m4a — audio/mp4](https://www.devkult.com/mime/m4a.md)

Open the interactive page: https://www.devkult.com/mime/3gp