After the herder left, Gopal’s apprentice, a teenager named Ravi who was used to watching 4K content on his Android, scoffed.

"Copy Chak De! India to your phone," Gopal said. "The 3gp version. It’s the only thing that will play tonight."

To achieve such small file sizes, 3GP had to make significant sacrifices. If you were to watch a 3GP Hindi movie today on a modern smartphone, the difference would be jarring. Most 3GP videos were 176x144 or 320x240 pixels.