| The latest addition in the world of mobile | | | | Generation Partnership Project 2, or 3GPP2. These |
| communication technology is the 3G phone. This | | | | bodies involve the cooperation of several countries in a |
| high-tech piece of telephony enables users to surf the | | | | collaboration agreement with the objective of |
| Internet, share multi-media files, send and receive | | | | standardization of mobile phone formats. The aim is to |
| emails, and participate in video conferencing amongst | | | | allow consistent delivery of multi-media formats over |
| other activities. | | | | the new 3rd Generation mobile networks worldwide. |
| 3G is short for 3rd Generation and is sometimes | | | | There are two international standards for the 3gp file |
| known as the Next Generation in mobile phone | | | | format: |
| technology. Previous incarnations were 1st Generation, | | | | 3GPP - this uses the file extension .3gp and is |
| which was analogue technology first appearing in the | | | | compliant with GSM based phones. |
| 1970s, and 2nd generation, a digital standard introduced | | | | 3GPP2 - compliant with CDMA mobiles and uses the |
| in the 1990s, which brought us capabilities such as SMS | | | | file extension .3g2. |
| messaging via mobile phone networks. | | | | The 3gp videos stored on mobile phones are easily |
| The new 3G standard enables data to be transferred | | | | transferred to a computer via USB or Bluetooth |
| at high speeds between digital wireless phones, made | | | | technology and are suitable for all platforms such as |
| possible as the technology has significantly larger | | | | Linux, Mac and Windows. Media applications such as |
| bandwidth than previous standards. | | | | Quick Time, Media Player and Real Player are all |
| This next generation in mobile technology brings with it | | | | capable of playing the 3gp files. |
| the introduction of a new file format, 3gp. This is a | | | | There are many software programs available that |
| video file format and allows multi-media streaming on | | | | allow 3gp files to be converted into other video |
| 3G compliant phones, enabling users to create, watch | | | | formats including avi or wmv, enabling playback on |
| and share video files through their mobile phone | | | | other platforms. These and other formats can also be |
| network. | | | | converted to 3gp, allowing them to be used by 3G |
| It is a multi-media container format, which means | | | | phones. The conversion software is widely available, |
| several different file types are stored together within | | | | mostly for free, via the Internet. |
| the one file. In this case, audio, video and bitrate | | | | Most of today's 3G mobile phones are capable of |
| information, which is data relating to the size and | | | | recording and creating 3gp files, as well as having |
| transfer time of the images, are stored together. | | | | playback and sharing features. There may be limits on |
| The 3gp format is a simplistic version of the MP4 or | | | | resolution, memory and maximum size of files, |
| MPEG-4 technology, and its creation was designed to | | | | depending on the brand and model of mobile phone. |
| decrease the amount of bandwidth necessary and the | | | | Some of the more modern or high-end 2G mobiles |
| overall file size so they could be incorporated with | | | | have the capability of playing 3gp files as do the very |
| mobile phones. | | | | latest 4G phones. However, again depending on brand |
| The format was defined by the Third Generation | | | | and model, there may be some limitations. |
| Partnership Project, known as 3GPP, and the Third | | | | |