High-performance microwave absorbents play a key role in the information technology field. Here, excellent microwave absorption properties were achieved via embedded Fe@Fe3C core-shell nanoparticles in polyvinyl alcohol-derived porous carbon matrix. The results indicate that the microwave absorption performance will be greatly enhanced due to the interface between the nanoparticles and matrix, as well as the core-shell and the porous structure, with an increase in energy consumption capacity via dipole polarization, interface loss, and multiple reflection/scattering. The maximum reflection loss (RLmax) reaches -56.88 dB at 11.3 GHz with the thickness of 2.11 mm, and the effective absorption bandwidth (EAB, RL<-10 dB) can get up to 5.2 GHz (from 12.9 to 18 GHz) with the thickness of 1.64 mm. Moreover, due to the low density of the porous carbon matrix, the total weight of the absorbents can be greatly reduced, which provides an efficient method for lightweight and high-performance microwave absorption materials design.