AIFF to M4R Converter

How to Convert AIFF to M4R Online

1. Upload Your AIFF File: Drag and drop the .aiff bounce onto the page or click "+ Add Files". Exports from Logic Pro, GarageBand for Mac and other DAWs work at 16-bit or 24-bit, and you can queue several mixes at once.
2. Trim the Section You Want: Open Trim, enter the Start time of the hook, chorus or riff and a Duration of 30 seconds or less, in seconds or HH:MM:SS.sss. The note under Duration repeats Apple's 30-second guidance for iPhone ringtones.
3. Give It a Generous Bitrate: Under File Compression, Constant Bitrate names a rate from 8 to 384 kbps, Variable Bitrate offers five AAC bands from 20k-32k up to 96k-112k, Custom Bitrate takes a typed value, and Specific file size aims at a size. Quality Preset is the hands-off choice. Because an AIFF is lossless, a higher Constant Bitrate such as 192 or 256 kbps is well spent here.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert" and save the .m4r. The file goes up over HTTPS, the AAC encode runs on our servers, and both files are deleted automatically after a few hours. No sign-up, no watermark.

Your Own Music as a Ringtone: Why AIFF Is a Good Start

AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) is Apple's uncompressed audio format, defined in 1988 and based on Electronic Arts' IFF chunk structure. It stores plain PCM samples, usually big-endian, at whatever bit depth and sample rate the project used. On a Mac it is the format music software reaches for when quality matters: Logic Pro and GarageBand for Mac can bounce or export a mix as AIFF, and many producers keep their masters that way.

That makes AIFF an excellent source for a ringtone. Nothing has been thrown away yet, so the AAC encode to M4R is the only lossy step, and a 30-second clip of your own track can sound as good on the phone as the phone's speaker allows. It is the typical path for a band that wants its single as everyone's ringtone, a producer turning a beat into a call alert, or a podcaster making a text tone from a show's sting.

An iPhone ringtone has to be an .m4r file: AAC (AAC-LC) audio in an MPEG-4 container. It is the same container and codec as an .m4a; the .m4r extension is what tells iOS, Finder and iTunes that the file is a tone. If you built the song in GarageBand on the iPhone itself, you can export it as a ringtone directly from GarageBand. This page is for when the audio already exists as an AIFF file on your Mac or drive.

The file you upload is big, though. Uncompressed 16-bit, 44.1 kHz stereo audio is about 10 MB per minute, and 24-bit masters are half as big again, so a four-minute mix is a sizeable upload. Exporting only the section you want from your DAW before converting saves time.

AIFF vs M4R: Format Comparison

How Big Is the Ringtone at Each Bitrate?

The arithmetic: AAC kilobytes = bitrate × seconds ÷ 8, so 256 kbps × 30 s ÷ 8 = 960 KB. The AIFF figure is 44,100 samples × 2 bytes × 2 channels × 30 seconds, roughly 5.3 MB. Even the highest bitrate here produces a tone that is small for a phone, so with a lossless source there is no reason to go low unless the clip is speech.

Setting the Ringtone on Your iPhone

Since the AIFF is probably already on a Mac, the quickest route is usually Finder: connect the iPhone, then drag the .m4r onto the iPhone in the Finder sidebar (macOS Catalina or later). On Windows, use iTunes. Without a computer, save the file to Files, import it into GarageBand on the iPhone and choose Share > Ringtone, as Apple describes in Create a custom ringtone on your iPhone. Pick it in Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Ringtone (Apple iPhone User Guide), or assign it to one person in Contacts via Edit > Ringtone or Text Tone.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long can my ringtone be?

Apple says iPhone ringtones can be up to 30 seconds long, and GarageBand shortens longer ringtones automatically when exporting; the GarageBand for iPhone User Guide gives 30 seconds as the maximum exported length. Choose a section that starts strongly, so the tone is recognisable from the first ring.

Will converting AIFF to M4R lose quality?

Some, because AAC is lossy, but this is the best case: a single encode from an uncompressed master. At 192-256 kbps the clip is very hard to tell from the AIFF on a phone speaker or earbuds. Keep the AIFF as your master; the M4R is a delivery copy.

Does a 24-bit or 48 kHz AIFF work?

Yes. The AIFF is decoded and encoded to AAC, which does not store a fixed bit depth. Leave Audio Sample Rate on Original to keep 48 kHz, or set it to 44100 Hz if you want it to match CD-rate material; either is fine for a ringtone.

Should I keep stereo?

Keep Original if the mix uses the stereo field and you will hear it on earbuds or AirPods. iPhone speakers are close together, so a mix that relies on wide panning loses some of its effect in your pocket regardless. Switch to Mono only for spoken clips.

Is .aif the same as .aiff?

Yes, the same format with a three-letter spelling. Use AIF to M4R for .aif files; the output is identical. Files with the .aifc extension can hold compressed audio and have their own page.

What is the difference between M4R and M4A?

The audio is the same: AAC in an MPEG-4 container. We write M4R with the same MPEG-4 muxer as M4A, and ffprobe shows AAC LC in an MP4 file with major brand M4A . The extension is what makes iOS file it as a tone. For a listening copy of the whole song, use AIFF to M4A.

Can I make an Android ringtone from the same AIFF?

Android does not use M4R; its ringtones are usually MP3 or OGG files, so convert with AIFF to MP3 instead. To turn an existing iPhone tone back into an uncompressed file for editing, M4R to AIFF does the reverse.

What happens to my unreleased track after I upload it?

It is uploaded over an encrypted (TLS) connection, converted on our servers and deleted automatically a few hours after processing. It is never shared or made public, and there is no account involved.