How to make your own iPhone ringtones

By Joseph Hanlon on 07 August 2008

If the back of teen music magazines are to be trusted then we can safely assume that mobile phone ringtones are big business, and, if you were the new kid on the block selling mobile phones, like Apple, you'd be crazy not to charge a motza for these audio snippets.

This doesn't mean we should have to pay for them. After paying higher than average prices for iPhone contracts, are you really about to fork out more money for 15-second clips of your favourite songs? We don't think this is fair and to right this injustice we show you how to make your very own iPhone ringtones for free. All you'll need is an iPhone (of course), iTunes and a swag of MP3 files.

  1. Open iTunes and select your favourite MP3 audio file.
  2. Right-click (Cmd-click for Macs) on this file in your library to bring up the context menu.
  3. Select Get Info

    4. Click for larger image

    This will open a new dialogue box showing various details about the audio file. Select the Options tab.

  4. Check the boxes next to both Start Time and Stop Time and enter the times you want your new ringtone to start and stop (the maximum length is 40 seconds) then click OK.

    5. This will return you to your music library.

  5. Right-click (Cmd-click) on the same music file again and this time select Convert Selection to AAC.

    6. iTunes will process this briefly and insert the new ringtone-sized file under the original file in your library.

  6. Right-click (Cmd-click) on the newly created file and select: "Show in Windows Explorer (or Finder on a Mac)"

A new dialogue box will open showing you the location of this file. Select the file and rename it, changing the file extension from ".m4a" to ".m4r". Windows will warn you that this change may make the file unstable, but continue anyway.

Back in iTunes, delete the ringtone file you've created from your library, then import the renamed '.m4r' file into your library. Connect your iPhone and sync your playlist. You may have to manually drag the .m4r file into the Ringtones section on your iPhone. With your iPhone synced this file is now ready to be used as a ringtone.

Topics: 3g, apple, iphone, itunes, mobile phone, mp3, ringtone, file, itune, click

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Comments (140)

  • Birdman25 commented on 21/11/2009 10:35 Report abuse

    Smoke me

  • Tim commented on 20/11/2009 16:40 Report abuse

    you are an amazing person

  • Birdman25 commented on 20/11/2009 14:43 Report abuse

    If u cannot see .m4a at the end of the song name- go to WINDOWS CONTROL PANEL, type FOLDER in the search bar, go to SHOW FILES AND FOLDERS section under FOLDER OPTIONS (or find ur own way there).
    Where it says HIDDEN FILES AND FOLDERS change the option to SHOW HIDDEN FILES, FOLDERS AND DRIVES.
    close all this after change is made. Go to where the file is located in windows. Instead of right clicking the folder or file its in, go to the USERS folder (which should be just after the C drive) and right click into properties. Make sure u have full control over the USERS folder and all sub-folders. Thats all i had to do besides following the instructions above...
    I hope i helped

  • Audioripp commented on 20/11/2009 09:01 Report abuse

    Some really nice ringtones for free at www.iphoneringtones.ca

  • Welshie commented on 18/11/2009 20:52 Report abuse

    Thanks heaps!! worked out after doing the control panel thing :)

  • McMac Daddy commented on 18/11/2009 01:12 Report abuse

    It won't work without first going into the control panel under "Folder options" click on the "View" tab and uncheck the box which reads "Hide extensions for known file types" once you do this and import the file into iTunes it'll then sync as a ringtone. Enjoy kids!

  • stef_wu commented on 15/11/2009 20:28 Report abuse

    weww... thank u very muchh!

    ^^

  • Azza commented on 14/11/2009 23:58 Report abuse

    From iTunes help...

    To convert a song's file format:
    Choose Edit > Preferences, click General, and then click Import Settings.

    In the Import Using pop-up menu, choose the format you want to convert the song to, and then click OK to save the settings.

    Select one or more songs in your library and choose Advanced > Create [Format] Version.

  • Greenacres95 commented on 14/11/2009 14:25 Report abuse

    I have tried to sync my ringtone from itunes to my iphone but it gives an error message "were not copied to iphone because they could not be found". I have changed the file extension to m4r but it still won't load. Can anyone suggest another way to do it?

  • 1 commented on 13/11/2009 16:14 Report abuse

    Im using vista... cant change i to .m4r when i show it in windows explorer andthen try to change the name doesnt give me option to chane it from .m4a to .m4r.

    Suggestions?? What am i doing wrong?

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