GSM to PVF Converter

Re-encode GSM telephony audio to Portable Voice Format

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Telephony Format Switch

Convert between GSM and PVF speech codecs — bridging different telephony and voice messaging systems with a simple online tool.

Browser-Only Workflow

No command-line tools or codec libraries needed. The GSM to PVF conversion runs entirely on our cloud servers.

Automatic Cleanup

All uploaded GSM files and converted PVF outputs are deleted from our servers, ensuring your voice data remains private.

How to convert GSM to PVF

1

Select files from Computer, Google Drive, Dropbox, URL or by dragging it on the page.

2

Choose pvf or any other format you need as a result (more than 200 formats supported)

3

Let the file convert and you can download your pvf file right afterwards

About formats

GSM 06.10 (Full Rate) is the foundational speech codec of the Global System for Mobile Communications standard, ratified by ETSI in 1991 and deployed across hundreds of cellular networks worldwide. Operating at a fixed 13 kbit/s, the algorithm applies Regular Pulse Excitation with Long-Term Prediction (RPE-LTP) to compress 20 ms frames of 8 kHz mono speech into just 33 bytes each. This approach models the vocal tract as a linear predictive filter, encodes the excitation signal, and leverages pitch periodicity for further reduction — tuned to deliver intelligible voice under the bandwidth constraints of early digital mobile channels. The codec powers not only GSM telephony but also many VoIP applications, voicemail systems, and IVR platforms that benefit from its low bitrate. Three concrete advantages stand out. First, extraordinary compression: one minute of speech fits in roughly 100 KB, enabling efficient storage and transmission. Second, universal tooling — libraries such as libgsm and SoX handle encoding and decoding on every major platform. Third, a royalty-free patent landscape that has encouraged adoption across open-source telephony projects like Asterisk and FreeSWITCH.
Initial release: 1991
PVF (Portable Voice Format) is a simple audio file format designed for voice message storage in Linux-based telephony systems, most notably ISDN4Linux and its vbox voicemail application. The format emerged from the European ISDN ecosystem of the late 1990s, when Linux servers increasingly handled PBX and answering machine duties over digital phone lines. PVF files store raw signed 16-bit PCM samples at 8000 Hz mono, preceded by a minimal plain-text header specifying data format and byte ordering. This deliberate simplicity is one of the format's primary strengths — with no compression and a human-readable header, PVF files are trivially easy to parse, pipe, and manipulate using standard Unix tools. The 8 kHz rate matches the Nyquist requirement for telephone-bandwidth speech (300-3400 Hz), making PVF a natural intermediate format for voice processing pipelines. Another advantage is cross-architecture portability: the explicit byte-order declaration means PVF files move between big-endian and little-endian systems without ambiguity. The SoX audio toolkit provides native PVF read/write support, enabling straightforward conversion to modern formats.
Developer: ISDN4Linux Project
Initial release: 1997

Frequently Asked Questions

Why convert GSM to PVF?

PVF is used in certain telephony and voice messaging systems. Converting ensures compatibility with applications that require this specific format.

How does PVF compare to GSM?

Both are speech-focused formats. PVF uses ADPCM encoding, while GSM uses its own compression — each serves different telephony ecosystems.

What software can open PVF files?

SoX, Audacity with appropriate plugins, and some telephony applications can handle PVF files for playback or further processing.

Is the conversion fast?

Both GSM and PVF are compact speech formats. Conversion completes in seconds, even for longer voice recordings.

Are my recordings kept confidential?

Uploaded GSM files are deleted after conversion. PVF outputs are removed from our servers within 24 hours.