AVI to M4R Converter

AVI to M4R: Ringtones From Older Video Files

AVI (Audio Video Interleave) is the container Microsoft introduced in 1992, built on the same RIFF structure as WAV. It was the everyday video format of the Windows era: DivX and Xvid movie files, game captures, TV-card recordings and the clips many compact digital cameras saved through the 2000s. If the moment you want ringing is a song from an old film file, a line from a game capture or a laugh from a family video, it may well be sitting in an AVI. The iPhone, however, takes ringtones as .m4r, which is AAC audio in an MPEG-4 container. This converter reads the AVI's audio track, re-encodes it to AAC and writes the .m4r, discarding the video. Trim keeps the clip to 30 seconds or less, the length Apple gives for custom ringtones.

How to Convert AVI to M4R

1. Upload Your AVI File: Drag the .avi onto the page or click "Add Files". Several clips can be converted in one batch, from a computer or a mobile browser.
2. Choose the Clip with Trim: In Advanced Options, switch Trim on and enter the Start time of the moment you want plus a Duration of 30 seconds or less (seconds or HH:MM:SS.sss).
3. Match Bitrate and Channels to the Source (Optional): Audio Codec is AAC, the only codec for M4R. Under File Compression pick Constant Bitrate (8-384 kbps), Variable Bitrate, Custom Bitrate or a target file size; use Audio Channel to keep a camera's mono recording mono or fold 5.1 down to Stereo.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert and save the .m4r (free, no sign-up, no watermark). Copy it to your iPhone and pick it in Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Ringtone.

What Is Inside Your AVI's Audio Track

AVI does not dictate a codec, so what you get depends on where the file came from. That matters for the settings you choose:

If you are not sure what your file contains, a player such as VLC (Tools > Codec Information) or a tool like MediaInfo lists the audio codec, channel count and sample rate in a few seconds.

Why the M4R Is So Much Smaller Than the AVI

An AVI's size is mostly video, and when the audio is PCM it is large too: 16-bit stereo PCM at 44.1 kHz runs at about 1,411 kbps. Size in kilobytes is bitrate in kbps times seconds, divided by 8, so the same 30 seconds compares like this:

With a PCM source there is nothing compounding: the AAC encode is the only lossy step, and 128 kbps already sounds clean on a phone. With an MP3 soundtrack, the information discarded by the first encoder cannot come back, so pick a rate at or a little above the source and stop there.

Tips for a Clean Tone From an Old Clip

• Skip the camera's start-up noise. Many camera clips open with a lens or button click; set the Trim Start a fraction of a second later.
• Keep mono as mono. If the source has one channel, forcing Stereo just duplicates it into two and doubles the data for nothing.
• Check for silence first. Some AVIs, especially screen captures and time-lapses, have no audio track at all. If the file plays silently in a media player, there is nothing to make a ringtone from.
• Refine afterwards if needed. The M4R trimmer lets you set the exact start and end on a waveform once you have a rough clip.

Getting It Onto the iPhone

On a Mac with macOS Catalina or later, connect the iPhone, select it in the Finder sidebar and drag the .m4r onto it; on Windows, use iTunes. The tone usually appears in Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Ringtone straight away. Without a computer, save the file to Files, import it into GarageBand on the iPhone and use Share > Ringtone, which is the route Apple documents in Create a custom ringtone on your iPhone (the audio must not be DRM-protected). To give one caller their own tone, open Contacts, choose the person, tap Edit and set Ringtone.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the M4R keep the video from the AVI?

No. An M4R is an audio-only file holding a single AAC track, so the picture is discarded. If you want the whole soundtrack as a music file rather than a 30-second tone, use AVI to M4A.

Will the ringtone sound better than the AVI?

No conversion can add detail that is not in the source. A PCM camera recording converts very cleanly; an MP3 soundtrack from a DivX file converts to AAC with a second, small generation of loss. Choosing a bitrate at or slightly above the source keeps that loss inaudible.

My AVI is from an old digital camera. Should I choose Mono?

If the camera recorded mono, which many compact cameras did, yes: Mono gives the same sound at half the data. Leaving Audio Channel on Original also keeps it mono. Only choose Stereo when the source really has two different channels.

Why does my AVI give me no audio to work with?

Because some AVIs have no audio track. Screen captures, time-lapse clips and some security camera exports are picture-only, and no setting can create sound that was never recorded. Play the file in VLC first; if it is silent there, look for the original recording that had sound.

How long can an iPhone ringtone be?

Apple says ringtones can be up to 30 seconds long, and its GarageBand for iPhone guide gives 30 seconds as the maximum for exported ringtones. A 40-second figure from the iTunes era is still repeated online, but it is not in Apple's current documentation, so set Duration to 30 seconds or less.

Is M4R different from M4A?

Only in the extension and how Apple software treats it. Both are AAC-LC audio in an MPEG-4 container; we write M4R with ffmpeg's ipod muxer, the same one used for M4A. The .m4r extension is what makes iOS, the Finder and iTunes file it as a ringtone.

I use Android. Which format should I pick?

Android does not need M4R; its ringtones are usually MP3 or OGG. Use AVI to MP3 with the same Trim settings. For other sources heading to an iPhone, the M4R converter lists every format we can turn into a tone.

What happens to my files?

The AVI is uploaded over an encrypted TLS connection and converted on our servers, and both the upload and the M4R are deleted automatically after a few hours. No sign-up, no watermark, and your original file is never changed.