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Need help?DVR to M4R: Ringtones from Recorder Files, and When There Is No Sound
The .dvr extension is used by more than one kind of recorder. On a PC it usually means a recording from Windows Media Center's DVR-MS era (Windows XP Media Center Edition and Vista): MPEG-2 video with MPEG-1 Layer II or Dolby Digital AC-3 audio in an ASF-based container. It is also the export extension of many CCTV and security recorders, whose files are often proprietary and frequently have no sound at all. This page extracts the audio track, drops the video, and re-encodes the part you choose as AAC in an .m4r file, the iPhone's ringtone format. M4R is the same AAC-in-MPEG-4 file as M4A; the .m4r extension tells iOS it is a tone.
Apple says ringtones can be up to 30 seconds long, so plan on using Trim.
What Kind of .dvr Do You Have?
| Source | Audio inside? | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Windows Media Center TV recording (DVR-MS) | Yes: MP2 or AC-3 broadcast audio | Converts normally unless copy-protected |
| Copy-protected Media Center recording | Encrypted | Cannot be converted by any tool |
| CCTV or security recorder export | Often none; some models record a microphone | No audio track means nothing to make a ringtone from |
| Set-top box recording in a proprietary wrapper | Varies | May need exporting from the box's own software first |
Media Center's own files normally end in .dvr-ms, while this page's upload picker looks for .dvr. Renaming the extension does not change the data inside, and the format is detected from that data.
How to Convert DVR to M4R
- Upload Your DVR File: Drag the
.dvrfile onto the page or click "+ Add Files". Several recordings can be queued with the same settings. - Trim to 30 Seconds or Less: Switch Trim on and enter a Start time and a Duration, in seconds or
HH:MM:SS.sss. The note under Duration repeats Apple's 30-second guidance. - Set File Compression and Channels: Choose Constant Bitrate (8 to 384 kbps), Custom Bitrate, one of five Variable Bitrate bands (20k-32k up to 96k-112k) or Specific file size; Quality Preset is the hands-off mode. Audio Codec is AAC. For AC-3 5.1 recordings, set Audio Channel to Stereo; for a voice, Mono.
- Convert and Download: Click Convert and save the
.m4r. Files are uploaded over HTTPS, processed on our servers and deleted automatically after a few hours. Free, no sign-up, no watermark.
DVR vs M4R
| Property | DVR (source) | M4R (output) |
|---|---|---|
| Typical origin | Windows Media Center (DVR-MS) or a CCTV or set-top recorder | Apple's ringtone extension for MPEG-4 audio |
| Video | MPEG-2, or the recorder's own codec | None |
| Audio | MP2 or AC-3 on TV recordings; often absent on CCTV | AAC-LC |
| Container | ASF-based (DVR-MS) or proprietary | MPEG-4 |
| Length | Minutes to hours | 30 seconds or less |
| Size for 30 seconds | Tens of megabytes, mostly video | About 480 KB at 128 kbps |
Bitrate for Broadcast Audio
TV audio in a DVR-MS recording is already lossy, usually MP2 or AC-3 at a few hundred kilobits per second, so AAC only needs enough bitrate to avoid adding audible loss. 128 kbps Stereo (about 480 KB for 30 seconds) suits music; 96 kbps Mono (about 360 KB) suits a spoken line. File size is bitrate × seconds ÷ 8 = kilobytes.
Getting Sound Out of a CCTV or Set-Top Export
Standalone recorders vary so much that the most useful step is often in the recorder itself. Many security DVRs include an export function or a bundled player that can save a clip as AVI or MP4, and that standard file is far more likely to convert than a raw .dvr dump. Check the recorder's settings as well: on many systems audio recording is a separate option per camera, and a channel with no microphone connected, or with audio switched off, simply has no sound to export.
Set-top boxes and older TV recorders are similar. Where the box offers a copy or export to USB in a standard format, use that. If a file opens in VLC with sound, it will normally convert here; if VLC shows only a video stream, the recording has no audio and there is nothing to make a ringtone from.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my DVR ringtone empty?
The recording has no audio stream, which is common for CCTV recorders that capture video only. Without audio there is nothing to make a ringtone from.
My file won't convert at all. Why?
Either it is a copy-protected Media Center recording, which only the recording machine can play, or it is a proprietary recorder format without a standard container. Export the clip from the recorder's own software to a standard file, then convert that.
How long can an iPhone ringtone be?
Apple's support article says up to 30 seconds, and GarageBand for iPhone caps exported ringtones at 30 seconds. An older 40-second figure from the iTunes era is not in Apple's current documentation.
How do I set it on my iPhone?
Connect the iPhone to a Mac and drag the .m4r onto it in the Finder sidebar (macOS Catalina or later), or use iTunes on Windows. Choose it in Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Ringtone; for one caller, Contacts > the person > Edit > Ringtone. Or save it to Files, import it into GarageBand on the iPhone and use Share > Ringtone.
My recordings are .wtv, not .dvr. Where do they go?
WTV replaced DVR-MS in later versions of Media Center. Use WTV to M4R.
What about Android?
Android ringtones are usually MP3 or OGG. Use DVR to MP3 for an Android phone.
Is my recording kept?
No. It is uploaded over TLS, processed on our servers and deleted automatically after a few hours, and it is never shared or made public. For the full soundtrack rather than a tone, DVR to M4A does the same extraction at full length.