Reset to defaults
Need help?RM to M4R: A RealMedia Clip as an iPhone Ringtone
RM is RealNetworks' RealMedia container, the format RealPlayer streamed across dial-up modems from the mid-1990s: news clips, internet-radio captures, lectures and music videos at a few dozen kilobits per second. Inside is RealVideo and, usually, a RealAudio track. This page decodes that RealAudio track, drops any video, and re-encodes the part you choose as AAC in an .m4r file, the ringtone format of the iPhone. M4R is the same AAC-in-MPEG-4 file as M4A; the extension is what makes iOS treat it as a tone. No RealPlayer is needed.
Two RealMedia quirks shape the result: the audio is often low sample rate and mono, and some .rm files carry no audio at all.
How to Convert RM to M4R
- Upload Your RM File: Drag the
.rmonto the page or click "+ Add Files"; several can be queued. RealMedia files are small, so uploads are quick. For variable-bitrate.rmvbfiles use RMVB to M4R. - Trim to 30 Seconds or Less: Turn Trim on and enter a Start time and a Duration, in seconds or
HH:MM:SS.sss. Apple says ringtones can be up to 30 seconds long, and the note under Duration says the same. - Set a Modest Bitrate: Choose Constant Bitrate (8 to 384 kbps), Custom Bitrate, one of the 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. Leave Audio Channel and Audio Sample Rate on Original, because RealAudio is frequently 8 or 22 kHz mono and upsampling adds nothing.
- 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.
RM vs M4R
| Property | RM (source) | M4R (output) |
|---|---|---|
| Developer and era | RealNetworks, 1990s-2000s streaming | Apple's ringtone extension for MPEG-4 audio |
| Audio codecs | RealAudio family: 14.4, 28.8, Cook (G2), SIPR, ATRAC3, AAC | AAC-LC |
| Typical audio | Small bitrates; often mono; 8 to 44.1 kHz | What you set, for 30 seconds or less |
| Video | RealVideo, or none | None |
| Plays on | VLC, MPC-HC, RealPlayer | iPhone as a ringtone; any AAC player |
| Documentation | Proprietary, with little public documentation | Open standards (MPEG-4, AAC) |
What Your RealAudio Track Can Give You
Decoding here uses FFmpeg's libavcodec, which handles the RealAudio codecs below. The last column is what is sensible for the ringtone, not the maximum you could ask for.
| RealAudio codec | Typical source | Sensible M4R setting |
|---|---|---|
| RealAudio 1.0 (14.4) | Dial-up voice, 8 kHz mono | 32-48 kbps, Mono |
| RealAudio 2.0 (28.8) | Dial-up voice and music | 48-64 kbps |
| SIPR (ACELP.net) | Speech-only streams | 32-48 kbps, Mono |
| Cook (RealAudio G2 and later) | Music and general content, mono or stereo | 64-128 kbps |
| ATRAC3 or AAC (later RealAudio) | Higher-quality music | 128-192 kbps |
An AAC encoder cannot usefully spend 128 kbps on 8 kHz mono audio, so the file may come out smaller than the number you picked. A 30-second tone at 64 kbps is about 240 KB (bitrate × seconds ÷ 8 = kilobytes).
RealMedia Files You May Find on an Old Drive
Not every RealNetworks file holds audio you can use. A .ram file is a tiny text file containing a link to a stream, not audio, so it cannot be converted; if the stream it pointed to is gone, so is the sound. Audio-only RealAudio files usually carry the .ra extension. An .rm file is the container this page reads, and it may hold audio, video or both.
Expect a particular sound, too. Clips encoded for 28.8k and 56k modems were squeezed hard: speech at 8 kHz sounds like a telephone call, and early music streams can be swirly and narrow. That lo-fi character survives the conversion exactly. If you want a cleaner tone, look for a version of the same clip that was encoded for broadband, at a higher bitrate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did my RM conversion produce nothing usable?
The file probably has no audio track. RealMedia was often authored video-only to save bandwidth. With no audio stream there is nothing to make a ringtone from; play the file in VLC first to check whether it has sound.
Will the ringtone sound better than the RealPlayer original?
No. RealAudio was built for modem speeds, and AAC re-encodes what is there. A dial-up voice clip stays a dial-up voice clip, which can be part of its charm as a ringtone.
Why is the file smaller than the bitrate I picked?
At an 8 kHz mono sample rate there is very little for the AAC encoder to describe, so it cannot spend a high bitrate. Pick a lower figure, or leave the settings matched to the source.
How long can the ringtone be?
30 seconds or less. Apple's support article says ringtones can be up to 30 seconds long, and GarageBand for iPhone uses 30 seconds as its maximum for exported ringtones. The 40-second limit mentioned in old iTunes-era guides is not in Apple's current documentation.
How do I get it onto 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, then choose it under Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Ringtone. You can also assign it to one person via Contacts > Edit > Ringtone, or import it from Files into GarageBand on the iPhone and use Share > Ringtone.
What should Android users pick?
Android ringtones are usually MP3 or OGG. Use RM to MP3 and the same Trim settings.
What happens to my file?
It is uploaded over TLS, processed on our servers and deleted automatically after a few hours, and it is never shared or made public. To keep the full audio rather than a 30-second tone, RM to M4A does the same extraction at full length.