Free Ringtone Maker

Worked example

Say a song is 3 minutes 30 seconds long and you want the chorus that starts at 1:05. Drop the file, type 65 into "Start (s)", then press the "30 s" button next to "Length". The fields become Start 65 and End 95, so the clip is 30 seconds. With the default fades of 0.5 seconds, the tone fades in over the first half second and fades out from 29.5 seconds on. With "M4R (iPhone)" selected the audio is encoded as AAC at 192 kbps, so 30 seconds is about 720,000 bytes of audio (192,000 bits per second times 30, divided by 8), a little over 700 KB; after "Make ringtone" the page shows the real size. If the file is called "Song Name.mp3", the button reads "Download Song Name_ringtone.m4r".

Which settings to use, and the limits

• Pick the format your phone needs. The tool starts on "M4R (iPhone)", because an iPhone needs M4R. On an Android phone it starts on "MP3 (Android, WhatsApp, any phone)" instead. "OGG (Android)" is also offered; when you pick it the page notes that it works on most Android phones and to use MP3 if you are unsure. M4R is AAC at 192 kbps, MP3 is 192 kbps, and OGG is Vorbis at quality 6.
• Keep it to 40 seconds or less. The output is capped at 40 seconds, and "max 40s" is shown beside the clip length. If you type an End more than 40 seconds after Start, only the first 40 seconds are exported, and dragging on the waveform stops the selection at 40 seconds. The "Length" buttons are "Max 40 s (iPhone)", "30 s" and "15 s (notification)"; they keep the clip inside the song by moving the start earlier when the end would pass the last second. Above 30 seconds the page warns "Over 30 s: WhatsApp and some Android tones may cut it short." The shortest clip it will make is 0.5 seconds.
• Choose the hook by ear, then fine-tune the edges. Drag on the waveform to select, press "Preview selection" to hear only that part, and use the "−0.1" and "+0.1" buttons under Start and End or "Set from playhead" for small moves. "Zoom" goes up to ×16, and the zoom-in button stops once the visible part is shorter than 4 seconds. "Snap start and end to the nearest pause" moves each edge by up to 0.4 seconds to a quieter spot, but only if it finds one at most half as loud as the loudest part of that stretch. If the file cannot be drawn you see "Couldn't draw a waveform for this file, but you can still set the clip with the time fields below."
• Use short fades, and the loop option for repeating tones. "Fade in" and "Fade out" both start at 0.5 seconds. Each fade is limited to half the clip length, and 0 or an empty box removes that fade. Tick "Loop-friendly ending (fade to a short silence so the tone repeats cleanly)" and the fade out is at least 0.5 seconds, followed by 0.4 seconds of silence. That silence counts toward the 40 seconds, so with this option the sound part is limited to 39.6 seconds.
• Let it boost a quiet song. "Make quieter songs louder (normalise)" applies loudness normalization to a target of -14 LUFS with a peak ceiling of -1 dB, and keeps the output at the source's own sample rate. It switches itself on when the loudest point of the whole file is below -10 dB, and says "This song is quiet, so loudness boost is on. Untick it if you prefer the original level." With the option on, the result line shows the loudest point of your clip before and after, in dB.
• Use audio or video files, one at a time, within the size limit. Songs, voice notes and video files (MP4, M4V, MOV, WebM, MKV, 3GP) are accepted, and from a video only the sound is used. The tool refuses a file above about 2 GB on a normal computer, 1 GB on a computer reporting 4 GB of memory or less, and 400 MB on a phone. The first use downloads the audio engine, about 31 MB, which is kept in your browser afterwards. Your file is processed in the browser and is not uploaded.

Common problems and how to fix them

It says "Failed to load the encoder. Check your internet connection and try again."

The audio engine, about 31 MB, is downloaded from this site the first time you use one of its audio or video tools. Check your connection and press "Make ringtone" again. A download that receives no data for 20 seconds is stopped rather than left hanging, so a slow or patchy connection can also end in an error; try again on a steadier one. Once the engine has downloaded it is kept in your browser, so later runs do not need the network.

"Make ringtone" is greyed out and the page says "End must be after start." or "Start is past the end of the audio."

The button stays disabled until the range is valid. Start has to be before End, and before the end of the file (the page shows the source length beside the clip length). An empty End box also disables it. Press one of the "Length" buttons to put both boxes back to a valid range.

It says "This file is 2.6 GB, which is too large to process in your browser on this device (limit ~2 GB). Try a smaller file or trim a shorter clip first."

The limit in the message is the one for your device: about 2 GB, 1 GB or 400 MB, as listed above. The whole file is read into the browser's memory to be cut, so a very long video or recording is better shortened first. A desktop computer allows larger files than a phone.

It says "This file couldn't be read — it may be incomplete (still downloading or only partly copied) or not a real video/audio file. Try the original file again."

The engine could not parse the file. Copy or download it again so that it is complete, and pick the original rather than a partial copy. If instead it says "This file changed or moved after you picked it — please choose it again.", choose the file again. If it says "Processing stopped making progress, so it was stopped instead of being left to hang. Try again; if it happens again, try a shorter or smaller file.", press "Make ringtone" again. For "This conversion failed — the chosen format or codec may not be supported for this input. Try a different output format, or a different source file.", switch between M4R, MP3 and OGG or use another source.

The file downloaded, but my phone does not list it as a ringtone.

The tool only makes the file; the phone has to import it. For an M4R the page lists the steps: save the .m4r to the Files app (the "Share / save to Files" button, shown when your browser supports sharing files), open GarageBand, import the file and choose Share, then Ringtone, or on a Mac or PC drag the .m4r onto your iPhone in Finder or iTunes. Then go to Settings, Sounds & Haptics, Ringtone and pick it from the top of the list. For an MP3 or OGG on Android, use Settings, Sound, Phone ringtone, then Add from files (the name varies by brand).

How it compares

The three formats differ only in where they work: M4R is what an iPhone ringtone has to be, MP3 works on Android and in most messaging apps, and OGG is an Android option. All three are lossy, at 192 kbps for M4R and MP3. Compared with a desktop audio editor, this tool does one job: one clip from one file, with a fade in, a fade out, optional loudness normalization and a loop-friendly ending. It has no multi-track mixing, equalizer, pitch or speed change, and it cannot install the tone on an iPhone for you; you still import the .m4r through GarageBand, Finder or iTunes. In exchange there is nothing to install, and your file stays in your browser.