Importing 3GP videos to iMovie 11

[curt00]

I have the Samsung Galaxy Android phone, which records HD videos into files with the .3GP file extension.

iMovie 11 imports and converts these files into .MOV files. However, the resulting .MOV file is approximately four times larger.

File sizes:
.3GP: 127.4 MB
.MOV: 484.9 MB

Why does it do this? Is there a better way?

I have dozens of 3GP files on my Mac. If I import all of them, it will take up an additional 300% of disk space, and I assume that I will still have to keep the .3GP files around, just in case iMovie 11 degraded the quality when it converted them to .MOV.

That's my next question. Does iMovie 11 degrade the quality when it converts from .3GP to .MOV?

[Baldrick]

iMovie reconverts the video so yes you will lose quality. How much depends on what codec, bitrate(lower the bitrate to get smaller file size) you use.

You could try make a mp4 with avidemux instead, open 3gp, under video and audio choose copy, save as a mp4. Or do you really need a mov?

[curt00]

iMovie reconverts the video so yes you will lose quality. How much depends on what codec, bitrate(lower the bitrate to get smaller file size) you use.

You could try make a mp4 with avidemux instead, open 3gp, under video and audio choose copy, save as a mp4. Or do you really need a mov?

I don't know if I need a MOV. I don't think so. I just want to be able to use the .3GP video clips to create and edit a movie in iMovie 11, but I don't want to lose any quality.

Are you saying that avidemux will not lose any quality when it converts the 3GP file to MP4? I assume that iMovie can then use the MP4 file? Will I have to import the MP4 file with iMovie, and will iMovie then create another file in the "iMovie Events" folder? Or, can I simply drag and drop the MP4 file into the Clips browser (and hopefully iMovie will not create another file in the "iMovie Events" folder)?

What about VLC (VideoLAN)? Will VLC convert it to MP4 without quality loss?