How to convert an mp3 or m4a file to an iPhone Ringtone
December 8, 2008 by Ross McKillop
This is a “guest post” by the Switching To Mac founder (and current Mac Video Training owner) Michael Kaye.
So what is an iPhone ringtone anyway? Well in facts it’s simply just a regular iTunes “AAC” audio file with a slightly different extension name. In this example the iTunes audio file or song would have the “m4a” extension at the end (example: song.m4a).
If you want to turn it into a ringtone all you need to do is change the extension to that of “m4r” (example: song.m4r). So how do we do that or better yet, how would we change an iTunes “mp3″ audio file into and “m4r” ringtone for an iPhone.
Let’s start from the beginning using an mp3 audio file, so if you already have your audio file or song in “AAC-m4a” format then you can skip to step number 4.
For this example we will use switch.mp3 as our base “mp3″ song for reassignment as an iPhone ringtone.
Step 1 - Getting song into iTunes
If your song is not already in iTunes, drag it into the Music library window.
Step 2 - Import Settings
Make sure your Import settings are set to AAC (this is the default setting so for most you should be OK) To do this go into your iTunes Preferences -> General and look for the Import Settings button the near middle right side.
Select the AAC Encoder option in the top drop down menu, the quality settings are up to you.
Step 3 - Convert song to AAC
Go back and find the switch.mp3 song you dragged in earlier using the iTunes Search tool.
Make sure your song is selected and then using the iTunes Advanced Menu, navigate to Create AAC Version.
You will now have two copies of your song in your iTunes Library, the one that is highlighted is the non-AAC version. If you are unsure you can get info on the files using keyboard combo Apple Key + i on your Macs keyboard.
Step 4 - Convert “m4a” to “m4r”
Now drag the newly created AAC version of your song form your iTunes Music Library window to your desktop and then while it is selected on the desktop press Apple Key + i combo again to get info on the music file. You should see something like this:
Change it to this:
You may get asked if you are sure you want to change the extension, select the m4r option and proceed.
Step 5 - Move back into iTunes
I remove all traces of my original pre-converted songs form iTunes by using the iTunes search tool to find them and then press the delete key to delete them.
Now drag your new “m4r” ringtone into the iTunes Ringtones window and your done. Your ringtone is now ready to be synced with your iPhone.
[...] developers from accessing the iTunes library so there is no way to get to my music. I was left using a trick to convert my favorite wake-up song to a ringtone (had to trim it to 40-seconds) so I could use the [...]
Hi Ross,
I see it in the Ringtones folder when my iphone is connected to my powerbook, but it does not show as an option to set as a ringtone in my iphone. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Liz
Had no problem converting to the AAC format and then to .m4r; Draggd it to the ringtone folder……but when I open the folder, nothing shows up.
Does the iphone have to be connected for anything to show up in the ringtone folder???
thanks.
Zoomie,
Did you delete the AAC file in iTunes before you added the .m4r file?
i have the same issue. I deleted the AAC file in iTunes. Dragged the Mr4 file to ringtones in iTunes. I see it in my Ringtones in iTunes. I am able to play it as well. However when I sync it with my iPhone, this Ringtone which has the name of Real 333000 does not show up in my iPhone. Even though I do see that this file is being copied when i sync my iPhone. Any Ideas?
Sorry for the confusion. Actually I had to reopen the “Settings” option in the iPhone to see it there. Works great. Thank you for the steps to convert MP3 to Ringtone…
works , awesome
Thanks so much. It works perfectly on my iphone 3G.
Everything was going well, but I cannot sync the ringtone from CPU to iphone ringtone.
i have a windows xp so i don’t have a apple key i converted the file to acc but i am stuck on step4
can this be done on windows as i noticed u have a mac background
This was working great, then like a fool, I did not delete the AAC file before adding the newly created ringtone. Now I can see the ringtone file in th ringtone list in iTunes, but when I I try to sync, there is no item in the Ringtone sync list.
Can someone please help me and let me know what I can do to revert this mistake.
For the ringtone to sync, the sound clip has to be 30 seconds or less which means editing the mp3 prior to converting it to AAC.
When in iTunes, ctrl click and then select view in finder, make a copy of the chosen mp3 file and then edit it down to 30 seconds with a piece of software like audacity. (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) Re-import the edited file to iTunes and then start again with step 2 on this tutorial.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! I was having so much trouble figuring out how to get ring tones on my iphone, your step to step instructions was great! So finally i can enjoy my iphone to the fullest! Got all my favorite ring tones on with ease thanks to your tutorial:)
Hi! Thank you for the instructions.. but i still have a probleme. When i sychronise my iphone on Itunes i cant see the ringtones in the Ringtones list….. :s What can i do about that?
Thank you
when i cut the music down then convert the song to aac then drag it out from itune thats where i get stuck i cannot change it into m4r as it not a m4a does anyone have this problem or is it just me
I put the file in a folder then go to properties, and change the A to an R. success!
what/where is the Apple Key + i ???? Thanks…
I followed the instructions just like everyone else and can see the m4r file in my Ringtones folder in iTunes. After syncing with my iPhone the m4r file appears in the Songs List or Recently Added Playlist but NOT in the Ringtones list. Does anyone know how to make it appear in the Ringtones list so I can select it?
THANKS SOOO MUCh… I searched for hours on end trying to find a good way to convert. I wasted my time and internet data downloading different programs wich ofcourse did not work and finaly i found an ellegent yet simple tutorial on how to do it. THanks alot.
people who are using windows have to go to control panel first…make it classic view…click on fold options then there is a box that says “show extensions of known files”…click that make…then hit ok…so when you rename the song out of itunes…the .m4a will show…then once you change it to m4r a message will pop up asking if you are sure youwant to do it…just click ok and continue.
(I found the above and it solved the problem for me)
Hey it work, cheers matey
Just follow the steps indicated and you can’t go wrong just make sure you delete the AAC version before dragging the M4R file that you created. Its that simple.
I’m having some difficulty here. I’ve got the original Mp3. I can play it in iTunes. But when I get to the part where I’m supposed to convert it to an AAC version, the option is greyed out. I tried the old standby, right click and “convert this to a ring tone” but they only allow that with files you’ve purchased from them, the buggers.
Any advice? Anyone know where I screwed up?
I have the same problems with the other people who commented. I can pla ythe ringtone on itunes and stuff but when I tried to sync it into my iphone it doesn’t show on my ringtone options in my iphone.
What do i have to do to get it into my iphone?
I followed all the steps (really easy thanks) and have a .mpr file on the desktop. when I drag it into Ringtones in iTunes the whole LIBRARY section get a ’square’ round it and nothing shows. what gives? the .mpr file plays ok when double clicked on the desktop so I know it’s OK. help please!