The short answer
Open the song in the ringtone maker below. The first 30 seconds are selected, with a 1 second fade in and a 2 second fade out already set. Drag the selection on the waveform to the part you like, press Play selection to listen, choose iPhone (M4R) or Android (MP3) and press Make ringtone. Download the file, then add it to your phone with the steps further down.
The song is read and cut on your device; nothing is uploaded, and the result has no watermark or added sound.
Try it here: Ringtone maker
Open the full tool pageChoosing the right part of the song
A ringtone is heard in short bursts, often in a noisy place, and most calls are answered within a few rings. The part you pick should be recognizable in the first second. The chorus, a distinctive guitar riff or a vocal hook works much better than the song's intro, which often starts quietly and builds up slowly.
Look at the waveform: quiet passages are flat and thin, loud ones are tall. A section that is tall from the very start will be easy to hear from a pocket or a bag. Use Current position next to Start and End while the song plays to mark the exact moments, or type times such as 1:12.5.
- Start on a strong beat or the first word of the chorus
- Prefer parts that are loud from the first second
- Keep it between 20 and 30 seconds
- Listen with Play selection before you save
Fade in and fade out
A cut in the middle of a song starts and stops abruptly, and a ringtone repeats in a loop while the phone rings, so the jump from the end back to the start is heard again and again. A short fade in and a slightly longer fade out make that loop smooth. The ringtone maker uses 1 second in and 2 seconds out by default; the waveform shows the volume curve before you save.
Fade in can be set to None if the part starts on a hard beat you want to keep. For calm music, a longer fade out of 3 to 5 seconds sounds natural.
| Setting | Fade in | Fade out | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Default | 1 s | 2 s | Most pop and rock songs |
| Punchy start | None | 1 s | Songs that open on a strong beat |
| Smooth | 2 s | 3 s | Calm or acoustic music |
| Alarm style | None | None | Short sound effects and beeps |
M4R for iPhone, MP3 for Android
An iPhone ringtone is an AAC audio file in an MP4 container, the same as an M4A file, but with the .m4r extension. Finder and iTunes only treat a file as a ringtone when it has this extension, and the tone may be up to 40 seconds long. When you choose iPhone (M4R), the selection cannot be made longer than 40 seconds.
Android phones play ordinary MP3 files as ringtones, with no fixed length limit. MP3 works on every Android brand and on most other phones, so Android (MP3) is also the right choice for older feature phones and smart watches that accept custom tones.
| Phone | File | Maximum length | How to install |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone | .m4r (AAC) | 40 seconds (30 in GarageBand) | Finder, iTunes, GarageBand or Files |
| Android | .mp3 | No fixed limit | Copy to Ringtones folder, then Settings |
Installing the ringtone on an iPhone
With a Mac (macOS Catalina or later): connect the iPhone with a cable and unlock it, select it under Locations in the Finder sidebar and drag the .m4r file onto the iPhone window. With Windows: open iTunes, click the iPhone icon and drag the .m4r file onto On My Device in the sidebar. In both cases open Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Ringtone on the iPhone; the new tone is at the top of the list.
Without a computer, GarageBand on the iPhone can export ringtones. Download the Android (MP3) version to the Files app, open GarageBand and start an Audio Recorder project, switch to the tracks view, open the loop browser, choose the Files tab and import the MP3, then drag it onto the track. Go back to My Songs, touch and hold the project, choose Share > Ringtone and export it. GarageBand shortens ringtones to 30 seconds.
Recent iOS versions may also show Use as Ringtone when you share an audio file from the Files app. If you see this option, it is the quickest way; if not, use one of the methods above.
Installing the ringtone on an Android phone
The easiest way is to download the MP3 directly on the phone. Then open Settings > Sound and vibration > Ringtone (on Samsung: Sounds and vibration > Ringtone, on Pixel: Sound and vibration > Phone ringtone > My sounds) and add the file with the plus button. If the file does not appear, copy it into the Ringtones folder of the internal storage with a file manager or a USB cable, then look again.
Many phones also let you set a different ringtone for a single contact: open the contact, edit it and choose Ringtone. That is a nice way to recognize important callers without looking at the screen.
Common problems and fixes
- The tone does not appear on the iPhone: make sure the file ends in .m4r and is not longer than 40 seconds, and that you dragged it onto the iPhone in Finder or iTunes, not into the Music library.
- GarageBand cuts the tone short: GarageBand ringtones are limited to 30 seconds. Make the selection 30 seconds or shorter.
- Android does not list the MP3: move it into the Ringtones folder, or restart the phone so the media scanner picks it up.
- The ringtone is too quiet: choose a louder part of the song; the waveform shows which sections are loud.
- Your browser cannot create this format: some browsers, such as Firefox, cannot create AAC files. Use Chrome, Edge or Safari for the iPhone version, or choose Android (MP3).