How to create FREE iPhone ringtones using only iTunes 8

By admin • Jun 30th, 2009 • Category: iPhone accessories

Having recently upgraded to the new iPhone 3GS myself one of the first things i wanted to do was upload some custom ringtones that would give my iPhone that little extra personal touch. Being a firm believer in never downloading or buying ringtones from others, partly because everyone else does it and partly because never sure what you actually get, i started looking for information on how to create your own ringtones for the iPhone.

After reading a few tutorials and guides online that eventually helped me to start creating my own iPhone ringtones i thought i should also share it with you all, as all it takes is a few minutes of your time and iTunes 8 to start making your own iPhone ringtones from normal music files.

Here is the step by step guide to creating FREE iPhone ringtones using iTunes 8:

  •  Open up iTunes 8 and find music files that are DRM free (important) which i am sure won’t be a problem
  • Pick the song you like to turn into an iPhone ringtone. It is important to remember that a ringtone can max be 40 seconds long, which is why the next few steps are crucial.
  • Right click on the song and choose “get info”. Once there go to “options” and set the start time and end time of the song, without going over 40 seconds in total, then click OK.

iPhone ringtone generation step 1

  • Keep the song you just selected highlighted in iTunes and go to “advanced” menu, and then click on “create AAC version”. This will create a copy of the song at the shorter time selected. Make sure that you afterwards go into “get info” and “options” on the original song selected and un-tick the start time and end time, as i am sure you don’t want to liste to only 40 seconds of the song in the future.

iPhone ringtone generation step 2

  • Then you have to copy the song/file that was created in iTunes onto your desktop or a folder on your computer/mac. Once you have copied the file/song you should delete it from iTunes.
  • You then have to change the extension/rename the file from “.m4a” to “.m4r”. You might have to go into “folder and search options” on your explorer to, click on “view”, and then untick the “hide extension for known file types” option (example for Vista). This will allow you to change the file extension of the files to “.m4r”.

iPhone ringtone generation step 3

  • Once the files have been renamed you should drag them back into iTunes, make sure to drag them over to the “library” at the top left of iTunes (above the music folder). You should then be able to see the sound files in the ringtone folder on iTunes 8.
  • Last, sync your iPhone and you should find the ringtones avaible to use in the iPhone ringtone list.

Using this guide i have successfully created 5 new ringtones for my iPhone 3GS in the last half an hour. There is no reason why you can not use this same guide to also experiment in creating your own sounds, simply create the sounds beforehand and upload into iTunes before following the steps in this guide.

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79 Responses »

  1. Nick on July 9th, 2009 at 11:15 am:

    I’ve been doing this since iTunes 8 has been out. But I had to delete the original 30 aac file clip before iTunes would let you drop it into the ringtones folder. Beware of updates to disable this now!

  2. Johnny on July 10th, 2009 at 8:56 pm:

    My itunes isn’t letting me add any of the m4r files to itunes library, or to the iphone. I’m using 8.2.0.23

  3. Mark on July 13th, 2009 at 1:25 pm:

    Johnny,
    I just followed the above and couldn’t drag the mr4 file from the desktop to iTunes; however if you open the file from the desktop (ie “play” it), it will open in itunes in your ringtone folder. Job done.

  4. Phil on July 14th, 2009 at 8:56 am:

    Thank you soooo much!!

    This is such an easy way of doing things and it works a treat!

  5. David on July 15th, 2009 at 3:22 pm:

    I can’t change the file type from m4a to m4r. Can anyone help? I use Windows Vista if that helps.

  6. admin on July 15th, 2009 at 3:26 pm:

    David, have you followed all the steps above? Including changing the folder and settings function in explorer as illustrated and explained? You have to do that to be able to change the file extension in Windows Vista (using the same myself).

  7. David on July 16th, 2009 at 9:48 am:

    Hi Admin, I have followed all the steps and so far with success. I just can’t find the explorer thing. Can you explain what it is/where I find it?

  8. mike on July 16th, 2009 at 3:45 pm:

    Tried this All seemed to work well. I see it in iTunes, in both tghe Library Ringtones folder and the iphone Device ringtone folder. Just cant find it on the iphone. ANyone?

  9. admin on July 16th, 2009 at 4:21 pm:

    Hi David, if you go into start menu and then click on “computer” it opens up the explorer/folder window. At the top left you have an option called “Organize”, click on that and go to “Folder and Search Options”. That opens up a new window, which you then click on the “view” tab. Then you untick the box for “Hide extensions for known file types” and click ok. You should now be able to change the file extension when clicking “rename” on the file you want to change. Hope this helps.

  10. admin on July 16th, 2009 at 4:23 pm:

    Hi Mike, not sure what might have gone wrong, but will do some digging and see what i can find.

  11. Tazz on July 18th, 2009 at 12:50 am:

    Hey,
    I tried to make a ringtone, but I get stuck on step 4 when you have to click ‘convert to ACC’ - mine remains stubornly unclickable. Is there something I need to do beforehand to get it to work?
    Tazz

  12. Patrick on July 18th, 2009 at 2:15 am:

    I’m with mike. I changed the file type. Dragged it to the music folder under library. I see it in both music and ringtone folders. Went to the iPhone sub folder ringtones and checked sync all ringtones. Then under the drop down folders under my iPhone I can see it in the ringtone file. But it’s not on my phone in the ringtone section or the ipod section. What am I doing wrong?????

  13. Patrick on July 18th, 2009 at 9:59 pm:

    Hey Mike, I figured something out. The file name can not have anything like, _ or - in its name. My file had an underscore. I removed it and bam!! My ring tone was on my phone. I hope this helps!!!!

  14. Robert on July 19th, 2009 at 12:11 pm:

    This just isn’t working for me. I rename the file on the desktop, then simply can’t get it back into iTunes or on my iPhone. I’m using a mac, following all the steps, etc. I do not have the “convert to AAC” option, only to “MP3.” Once I rename the file as “.m4r,” iTunes will not recognize, open, or play the file at all. Any advice would be appreciated…

  15. Ashley on July 19th, 2009 at 6:32 pm:

    hey i did everything (i’m using vista) I can not get the ringtone onto my 3G iphone. someone please help

  16. boop on July 20th, 2009 at 3:03 pm:

    if youre itunes says only change to mp3 you have to go into preferences and import settings and change it to aac. now go back through the process and it will be available. just remember to change import settings to your specific preference once again before you import a cd to your hard drive, or convert one file type to another type.

  17. Robert on July 20th, 2009 at 5:58 pm:

    That did the trick. Thanks, boop!

  18. Betty on July 25th, 2009 at 2:55 pm:

    Everything worked fine except it don’t look like when I sync it that it’s going to my Iphone. I rechecked to make sure it was just a .m4r only but Ihave read all the other fixes and i can’t seem to figure why it’s not syncing to the phone if it’s in the ringtone file. Any ideas?

  19. Betty on July 25th, 2009 at 7:29 pm:

    Ok, i kept trying and got it to work but can only get 3 to download,I wouldn’t think there was a limit. I had 5 in my Itunes ringtone list and I said to sync all ringtones but it only did 3 and not even the 1st 3, it skipped the 2 in the middle and went to the last one….go figure! My husband says I’ve wasted all day on this but it’s Sat.and i’m retired and I’m determined to learn how to do this!!

  20. Darryl on July 25th, 2009 at 11:11 pm:

    This was SOOOO Helpful thank you!

  21. Brad on July 26th, 2009 at 12:10 am:

    I have a 3G on 3.0 with Mac OS 10.5.7 and iTunes 8.2.1 (6).

    I can not get this to work - step by step - and I went through a few different forums, no luck. Now here is the interesting thing, I downloaded some on a site macmost - those downloaded and went exactly where they were supposed to, but none I make myself.

    I investigated the file and tags and it appears to be just an m4r file in my download folder, nothing unusual, but when I rename and double click or try to drap to the Library - no dice.

    Hmmm, I am wasting a ton of time also but want to make it work dang it! :-) input?

  22. Dan on July 26th, 2009 at 5:22 am:

    Great job! Thanks for posting!

  23. Mary on July 30th, 2009 at 10:48 am:

    Followed all steps, and made sure I was only using DRM-free songs, but still will not sync onto the actual phone. I have iPhone 3GS and iTunes 8.2.1.6 .

  24. Karen on July 30th, 2009 at 3:57 pm:

    I have just got an iPhone 3GS and determined to get a ringtone on it! I can do all the steps but then get stuck on changing the file path, I have Windows XP - can someone help please?

  25. Natalie on August 1st, 2009 at 1:02 pm:

    Thanks! That worked like a charm!

  26. D on August 1st, 2009 at 11:05 pm:

    Try removing any spaces between words when u rename it before moving it back to iTunes (double click it to play it and it will appear in the iTunes folder if dragging it to the library doesn’t work) this seemed to have worked for me. When u drag it to iTunes the space will reapear.

  27. Ooosh. on August 3rd, 2009 at 6:26 pm:

    Same problem as everyone else. Im using Vista, the latest Itunes and a iPhone 3GS. Followed all the steps, its under 30 secs, changed the file name, deleted it from Itunes, the ringtone is created but it will NOT drag into itunes at all nor the iphone when it is in sync. I also downloaded Iringer which put the ringtones in a folder but they did not go into Itunes as was stated. Ive tried it on various tracks. How can you tell if your music has DRM ? Really annoyed, anyone got any ideas ????

  28. Kindour on August 3rd, 2009 at 9:34 pm:

    Thanks for sharing!

    i always use this iphone ringtone maker to create custom ringtones for my iphone 3g: http://www.softdiggs.com/iphone-ringtone-maker.php

    the site also offers a way to make free ringtones for iphone using only itunes.

  29. Ooosh. on August 5th, 2009 at 2:18 am:

    Just a quick note guys, I now have it working. You have to drag it from the Windows Explorer window and then it will go into your ringtone folder on Itunes. It will not work from your desktop, I seem to remember now I had the same problem putting movies onto my Ipod. I hope this helps as it was driving me crazy! :)

  30. Ooosh. on August 5th, 2009 at 11:24 am:

    Follow this link I found, best by far, impossible to go wrong. :)

    http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments&v=bf65uChjlfM&fromurl=/watch%3Fv%3Dbf65uChjlfM

  31. Kim on August 6th, 2009 at 6:44 pm:

    Thanks to everyone for the advice and tips–I followed the instructions and everything has worked fine for me (copying my song as a ringtone, syncing to my iPhone, finding the custom version as an option on my iPhone in ringtones, etc.), until this: I assigned my custom ringtone to my home phone number. However, when I call my iPhone from my home phone, it doesn’t play the custom ringtone. Instead, it goes to the first in the list of ringtones that iTunes had loaded on the phone when I bought it (the marimba). I had already deleted our home number from my husband’s contact information so that the only contact with my home phone number is my contact that I have (uninspiringly) named “Home.” When I pull up “Home” as a contact, it shows my custom ringtone–but doesn’t play it. Any ideas? (I have a 3G iPhone, version 3.0, and have iTunes 8.2.1.6.) Thanks!

  32. dickie on August 7th, 2009 at 8:16 am:

    Hi. I have tried to drag the file into library but it didnt go into itunes anywhere. Then i tried to play it from desktop top and it loads itunes up just doesnt play anything? HELP PLZZ!!!

  33. dickie on August 7th, 2009 at 8:53 am:

    It even has the little icon on the folder that says “Ring” but still wont drag and drop into my library what do i do lol its driving me up the wal

  34. dickie on August 7th, 2009 at 8:54 am:

    I have a 3G iPhone, version 3.0, and have iTunes 8.2.1.6.

  35. Stephen on August 12th, 2009 at 7:44 am:

    Thanks heaps for sharing that, it worked perfectly and its awesome to be able to have my own ringtone now.

    I was just wondering if it was possible to do the same sort of thing for the text message alert sound? Does anyone know if thats possible, or how it might be done?

    Thanks again.

  36. admin on August 12th, 2009 at 8:09 am:

    Hi Stephen, glad you found the article helpful. In terms of doing the same for txt messages it is a bit more complicated. I have been trying to figure out that part myself as well, and from the information i have found so far it does require somewhat of a hack of the iPhone. I’m hoping to be able to test this in the coming week or so, and if it works i will provide details on the site as to how to go along getting custom txt messages onto the iPhone.

    Quite surprised actually that Apple has made things so difficult when it comes to setting your own ringtone or text alert tone.

  37. lsgagnon on August 12th, 2009 at 4:12 pm:

    PLEASE HELP! i have every step completed yet it will not sync to my iphone!

  38. Lulu on August 13th, 2009 at 12:58 am:

    This is awesome! Thank you!! =)

  39. Dan on August 14th, 2009 at 8:02 pm:

    The new iTunes update (or the iPhone update) has apparently DISABLED this type of ring tone creation. All my old ringtones I made before these updates still work fine - but any new ringtone shows up as an available ringtone on my phone - but when someone calls - I hear the generic MARIMBA music. Looks like Apple fixed this and decided to try to cheat us out of more money.

  40. JJ Hammond on August 14th, 2009 at 8:32 pm:

    Mark you rock, been having this prob for a few days, cheers cheers cheers

  41. Dan on August 14th, 2009 at 9:14 pm:

    Actually nevermind - if you update the phone software and the iTunes software it seems to work fine still.

  42. Sandy on August 17th, 2009 at 8:51 am:

    I followed all the steps above and can see the three ringtones I created on my iPhone “ringtones” tab within iTunes. But after syncing, I see three ringtones on my iPhone 3Gs, but they are identical. So only one ringtone made it to my phone, but it made 3 copies of the same ringtone. Any ideas/suggestions? Thanks!!

  43. Sandy on August 19th, 2009 at 7:10 pm:

    Nevermind, I figured it out. :)

  44. Helena on August 20th, 2009 at 8:00 am:

    Hiya, ive got a 32gb 3gs and the latest version of Itunes. have created the file perfectly fine and it shows up in “ringtones” in itunes, and i sync my iphone, shows up in the list of folders when i expand the name of my phone in itunes, but when i go in settings and sounds on my actual handset i cant see the new ringtone?? ive looked all over the internet and not found a single answer, please help

  45. Julius on August 31st, 2009 at 6:34 pm:

    Had the same problem as Mike. It showed up in my iTunes ringtones folder AND on “my Phone” folder in iTunes, just didn’t show up on my phone. The solution is that you MUST delete the original file in the iTunes music library. After that it worked great!

  46. Julius on August 31st, 2009 at 6:36 pm:

    Clarification: By “original file” I mean the original 40 sec part you made, which is still in your music library. Not the original song haha.

  47. Andrew on September 3rd, 2009 at 12:55 am:

    Am using iTunes 8.2.1.6 and it worked liked a dream, quick and simple. How long before iTunes cotton on and update the software to prevent this simple process from working

  48. Jane on September 3rd, 2009 at 1:12 pm:

    doesnt work in the UK i dont think. I cannot get the file to drag across into the Library & thus go into ribgtones folder- no matter what I try! any suggestions please? I have a 32g SGs & Itunes v8.0
    thanks

  49. Drew on September 4th, 2009 at 4:28 pm:

    I’m using Win7 and can convert to AAC ok but unable to rename file type to .m4r. Any suggestions?!

  50. Scot on September 6th, 2009 at 4:39 pm:

    Sandy (or anyone else)

    I’m having the same problem you did- I uploaded three custom rings but only one shows up on my phone, three times. What did you do to make this work?

  51. Con on September 10th, 2009 at 6:54 am:

    Thank you. Very very useful. I appreciate the time you’ve taken to do this for the more technologically challenged of us

  52. Rachel on September 11th, 2009 at 7:22 am:

    I am having the same problem as Scot and Sandy. All of the ringtones appear in the iTunes but on the actual iPhone, it is the same ringtone five times instead of five different ringtones.
    Any thoughts?

  53. Pat on September 12th, 2009 at 1:28 pm:

    OK I have tried this and it works up to the point of getting the ringtone into the ringtone folder. It goes into the music folder not ringtone. I have confirmed the file extension is m4r. I have tried draging, I have tried adding a file, I have tried adding the folder, nothing happens. I tried double clicking and it just plays the file in winamp. Any Ideas?
    Itunes 8.2.6.1 Iphone3G

  54. Ben on September 15th, 2009 at 2:15 pm:

    Will this work with iTunes 9.0? Anyone tried yet?

  55. Ben on September 15th, 2009 at 2:17 pm:

    Make sure that you’re deleting the duplicate acc file prior to dragging the m4r file to the music folder

  56. Kelli on September 17th, 2009 at 1:32 pm:

    yes, it works with itunes 9.0. thats what i used. but for some reason, it only shows one of the three ringtones that i put on my phone. in itunes, it says that theyre all on there, but when i look on my phone, it only shows the first one. i had deleted that ringtone and once i did that, the next ringtone that was now first on the list was the only ringtone to show on my phone. why is it doing that? help? anyone?

  57. Amy on September 24th, 2009 at 7:18 pm:

    I’m so frustrated with this process. I’ve followed every step, I got the ringtone onto my phone once, but of COURSE the next sync I did, it disappeared. I’ve been trying to sync it back for about 2 hours now, and it will not sync back to my phone. Is there a solution at all?? I’ve turned my phone on and off about a dozen times, that’s not helping, nothings working and all I want is my ringtone back!! HELP!

  58. steph on October 17th, 2009 at 5:57 am:

    Hi, I have tried this a few times and cut the song down to 30 secs which it says it is when it’s in my itunes library but when i re-import it into itunes it goes to 00 secs????? anyone help?

  59. Jessica on October 29th, 2009 at 3:26 am:

    Thanks for sharing, You may also download this iPhone Ringtone Maker for a try, I know it can make your own iPhone ringtone from any music you love., my friends recommend it to me, it’s safe and works pretty well for me.
    http://www.flash-video-soft.com/ringtone-maker/
    Hope it helps.

  60. applite29 on October 29th, 2009 at 4:32 pm:

    found a nice collection of free ringtones at http://www.iphoneringtones.ca

  61. Paul Kirshner on November 5th, 2009 at 9:27 am:

    Hi - I don’t comment on many blogs but had to on yours. It’s really nice! I really like how you write - very to the point, unlike a lot of other blogs. Thanks for having this site. I’ll bookmark it and visit regularly. Please visit www.Beyonceitis.com! Keep up the great work!

  62. Claire on November 5th, 2009 at 4:44 pm:

    Worked great. I had to add the song into my ringtones folder by importing the track rather than dragging. But I am so glad I have my choice of ringtones!

  63. KotuKedi on November 6th, 2009 at 2:40 pm:

    Many Thanks. Works Great!

  64. eve on November 13th, 2009 at 1:41 am:

    Nice post and blog! Greets.

  65. Sarah on November 15th, 2009 at 11:31 pm:

    Thanks for sharing this.
    As for iPhone ringtones, my friend and I are using this iPhone ringtone maker:
    http://ipod-tool.com/ipod-software/avcware-make-ringtones-for-iphone.html

    It can help make ringtones for iphone from all mainstream video/audio formats including AVI, MPEG, WMV, DivX, MP4, H.264/AVC, AVCHD, MKV, RM, MOV, XviD, 3GP, WMA, WAV, RA, M4A, MP3.
    Most importantly, it’s easy to use.

  66. will on November 17th, 2009 at 1:01 am:

    Nice post and blog! Greets.

  67. Ripp on November 19th, 2009 at 5:09 pm:

    grab some cool free ringtones at www.iphoneringtones.ca

  68. Mitch on December 30th, 2009 at 5:26 pm:

    Absolutely spot on…just baught an iphone and now can have me own ringtones. shame apple don’t let you use them for mms tone aswell

  69. Threedoors on January 25th, 2010 at 10:19 pm:

    I also got lot of ringtones for my iPhone at http://www.iphoneringtonesmaker.org

  70. Maria on January 26th, 2010 at 9:08 am:

    Thanks for this - a piece of cake to do on a Mac! Those who are having problems are obviously using PCs…

  71. Tony on February 3rd, 2010 at 8:34 pm:

    I m using iTunes 9 will this b possilble? also mine is 3G..

  72. cashmare on February 10th, 2010 at 5:47 pm:

    yea tony it works just fine with itunes 9. and u dont need to transfer the changed format file back to itunes. u can create a folder on ur destop or samfin n save the files der. just make sure that u play the song for it to appear in itunes under ringtones. den drag the file to the iphone. n there it is

  73. lewis on February 12th, 2010 at 12:31 pm:

    have done everything. converted it and got it to my ringtones folder on itunes. when i plug iphone in and click on the ringtones folder below it ringtone is in there butwhen i look on my iphone after syncing it to change my ringtone its not there!! help!? lol

  74. Rolf Papai on February 21st, 2010 at 8:04 pm:

    Hi Initial time jumped here on your website, founde on ASK.

  75. dawn on March 2nd, 2010 at 2:29 pm:

    worked a treat, thanks so much. can you do the same for message alerts?

  76. Judith on April 25th, 2010 at 12:23 pm:

    I got it to work as far as getting the ringtone onto my phone but it isn’t apearing in my ringtone list (when I look on iTunes it’s there on the phone in the ringtones folder but in grey rather than black). Any help would be gratefully received!

  77. Smiler on May 17th, 2010 at 9:54 am:

    Thank you so much I’ve been trying for hours. It’s easy when you know how.

  78. apparel clothing on July 26th, 2010 at 8:50 am:

    . It’s easy when you know how

  79. Malcolm Parnell on August 30th, 2010 at 1:40 pm:

    worked a treat on my iphone 3g with ios 4 thanks alot

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