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Need help?How to Convert Video to M4R Online
- Upload Your Video: Drag and drop or click "+ Add Files". MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM, AVI, M4V, WMV, MTS, 3GP and many other video formats are accepted. The whole video is uploaded, so a long 4K clip takes longer than a short phone video.
- Mark the Sound You Want: Note the timestamp where the sound starts in your video player. In Advanced Options, open Trim, enter that as the Start time (seconds or
HH:MM:SS.sss) and set Duration to 30 seconds or less; the note under Duration repeats Apple's 30-second guidance for iPhone ringtones. - Set Audio Options (Optional): AAC is the only Audio Codec for M4R. File Compression offers a Quality Preset, Constant Bitrate (8-384 kbps), Variable Bitrate (five AAC bands, 20k-32k up to 96k-112k), Custom Bitrate or a target file size. Set Audio Channel to Stereo or Mono if the video has a surround soundtrack.
- Convert and Download: Click "Convert". The video track is dropped and only the audio is saved as an
.m4r. Files travel over HTTPS, are processed on xconvert's servers and are deleted automatically after a few hours.
Why Convert Video to M4R?
The sound you want as a ringtone is often stuck inside a video: a film quote, a clip you filmed of your kid laughing, a concert recording, a game moment, a meme sound saved from social media, the jingle at the start of a screen recording. An iPhone cannot use a video file as a ringtone. It needs M4R: AAC audio (AAC-LC) in an MPEG-4 container with the .m4r extension, the same container and codec as M4A, with the extension telling iOS, the Finder and iTunes it is a tone.
Converting video to M4R does three jobs at once:
- Extracts the audio. The picture is discarded, so a video of tens of megabytes becomes a ringtone of a few hundred kilobytes.
- Re-encodes it as AAC LC. Whatever the video carried (AAC, AC-3, Opus, MP3 or PCM) is decoded and encoded as AAC. xconvert writes the file with ffmpeg's
ipodMPEG-4 muxer, the same one it uses for M4A. - Cuts it to ringtone length. Start time and Duration pick the exact moment, so you do not have to edit the video first.
For the two most common containers there are dedicated pages, MP4 to M4R and MOV to M4R. If you want the full soundtrack as a normal audio file rather than a tone, use Video to M4A.
Video File vs M4R: What Changes
| Property | Video file (MP4, MOV, MKV...) | M4R |
|---|---|---|
| Contents | Video plus one or more audio tracks | One AAC audio track |
| Container | MP4, QuickTime, Matroska, WebM, AVI... | MPEG-4, .m4r extension |
| Audio codec | AAC, AC-3, Opus, Vorbis, MP3 or PCM | AAC (AAC-LC) |
| Size of 30 seconds | Often tens of MB for phone or camera footage | About 480 KB at 128 kbps |
| iPhone ringtone list | Not accepted | The file type iPhone uses for custom ringtones |
| Length | Any | Up to 30 seconds, per Apple |
Common Video Sources and the Audio Inside
| Source | Audio it usually carries | Tip for the ringtone |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone and Android videos (MOV, MP4) | AAC | Same codec family; 128-192 kbps keeps it close to the original |
| Downloads and screen recordings (MP4, WebM) | AAC, or Opus in WebM | Trim off the silence before the sound starts |
| Films and TV rips (MKV) | AAC, AC-3 or DTS, often 5.1 | Set Audio Channel to Stereo or Mono for a phone speaker |
| Camcorders (MTS, M2TS) | AC-3 | Stereo is the sensible output |
| Older clips (AVI, WMV, FLV) | MP3, WMA or PCM | Match the source bitrate; old audio rarely needs more than 128 kbps |
If a video file has several audio tracks (for example, several languages), check that the converted tone is the one you wanted before you copy it to the phone.
How to Set It as Your Ringtone on iPhone
To get the .m4r onto the iPhone, the usual routes are:
- Mac (macOS Catalina or later): connect the iPhone, select it in the Finder sidebar and drag the
.m4ronto it. - Windows: connect the iPhone and add the tone in iTunes.
- iPhone only: save the
.m4rto Files, import it into GarageBand on the iPhone, then Share > Ringtone. Apple documents this route; the audio must not be DRM-protected, and GarageBand shortens anything over 30 seconds on export (Apple Support).
Then open Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Ringtone and tap your new tone (iPhone User Guide). To use it for one caller only, go to Contacts, choose the person, tap Edit and set Ringtone or Text Tone.
Ringtone for Android?
Android phones do not need M4R. Their ringtones are usually MP3 or OGG, so use Video to MP3 for an Android tone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make a ringtone from a video on my iPhone?
Yes. Open this page in Safari, tap "+ Add Files" and choose the video from your photo library or Files, set the trim, and convert. Save the .m4r to Files, then use the GarageBand route above (or a computer) to install it as a ringtone.
Does the video quality matter?
No. Only the audio track is kept. A 4K video and a 480p copy of the same clip give the same ringtone if their audio is the same. The resolution only changes how long the upload takes.
How do I find the right start time?
Play the video in any player and note the time shown when the sound begins, then enter it as the Start time. Seconds with decimals (83.4) or HH:MM:SS.sss (00:01:23.400) both work. Starting a fraction of a second early avoids clipping the first syllable or beat.
How long can the ringtone be?
Apple says iPhone ringtones can be up to 30 seconds long. You may read about a 40-second limit; that figure comes from the iTunes era and is not in Apple's current documentation, so keep Duration at 30 seconds or less.
My video has 5.1 surround sound. Will that work?
Set Audio Channel to Stereo (or Mono) before converting. A phone speaker plays at most two channels, and a stereo AAC tone is the predictable choice.
Can I convert a video from a streaming service?
Only files you are allowed to use and that are not DRM-protected. Streaming-app downloads are encrypted and cannot be converted; your own recordings and DRM-free files work.
Are my videos stored?
Only briefly. Files are uploaded over TLS (HTTPS), processed on xconvert's servers and deleted automatically after a few hours. No account is required.