WAV to M4R Converter

How to Convert WAV to M4R Online

1. Upload Your WAV File: Drag and drop or click "+ Add Files" to add WAV exports from GarageBand, Logic, Audacity, Ableton or a field recorder. Batch upload is supported.
2. Trim to 30 Seconds or Less: In Advanced Options, open Trim and enter the Start time of the section you want (seconds such as 14.25, or HH:MM:SS.sss) and a Duration of 30 seconds or less. The note under Duration repeats Apple's guidance: iPhone ringtones can be up to 30 seconds long.
3. Choose Bitrate and Sample Rate (Optional): AAC is the only Audio Codec for M4R. Under File Compression, pick 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. For 88.2, 96 or 192 kHz recordings, set Audio Sample Rate to 44100 or 48000 Hz.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert". The WAV is uploaded over HTTPS, encoded on xconvert's servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours. Download the .m4r: no sign-up, no watermark.

Why Convert WAV to M4R?

WAV is uncompressed PCM audio in Microsoft's RIFF container. It is what music apps, sound-design tools and portable recorders export when they want zero quality loss, which also makes it the best possible starting point for a ringtone: the WAV holds every sample the recording captured, so the M4R goes through exactly one lossy encode. Compare that with an MP3 source, where the AAC encoder has to work on audio that has already been compressed once.

An iPhone will not list a WAV as a ringtone, though. Custom tones must be M4R: AAC audio (AAC-LC) in an MPEG-4 container with the .m4r extension, the same container and codec as M4A. The extension is what tells iOS, the Finder and iTunes that the file is a tone. xconvert writes M4R with ffmpeg's ipod MPEG-4 muxer, the same one it uses for M4A.

Typical WAV-to-ringtone projects:

• Your own music or beats. Bounce the hook from your project as WAV, then convert. Ending the clip on a downbeat helps, because the tone starts again from the top for as long as the phone keeps ringing.
• Sound effects and UI sounds. Sound libraries ship as WAV. Short effects make good text tones and alerts.
• Field and voice recordings. A bird call, a door chime, a voice line recorded on a Zoom or Tascam recorder.

Two WAV-specific tips. A mix mastered right up to 0 dBFS can clip slightly once it is encoded to AAC, so leave about 1 dB of headroom in your music app if you can. And because the converter does not change loudness, a quiet WAV makes a quiet ringtone; raise the level before exporting. If you want the full track for listening rather than a tone, WAV to M4A skips the ringtone framing, and M4R to WAV turns a tone back into a WAV for editing.

WAV vs M4R: Format Comparison

30 Seconds of Audio: WAV vs M4R Size

Size = bitrate (kbps) × seconds ÷ 8. For a 30-second clip:

With a lossless source, 192-256 kbps AAC is a comfortable choice for music; 128 kbps is plenty for most phone speakers, and 64-96 kbps in Mono suits speech and simple effects.

How to Set It as Your Ringtone on iPhone

Copy the .m4r to the phone using one of the usual routes:

• Mac (macOS Catalina or later): connect the iPhone, select it in the Finder sidebar and drag the .m4r onto it.
• Windows: connect the iPhone and add the .m4r with iTunes.
• iPhone only: save it to Files, import it into GarageBand on the iPhone and use Share > Ringtone, the route Apple documents. The audio must not be DRM-protected; GarageBand shortens longer ringtones automatically on export (Apple Support).

Then go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Ringtone and tap the tone (iPhone User Guide). For one contact only: Contacts > the person > Edit > Ringtone or Text Tone.

Ringtone for Android?

Android does not need M4R; Android ringtones are usually MP3 or OGG. Convert with WAV to MP3 instead.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is WAV a good source for an iPhone ringtone?

The best you can have. WAV is lossless, so the M4R is a single AAC encode of the original audio. The result will sound cleaner than a ringtone made from an MP3 of the same song at the same AAC bitrate.

Can I rename a .wav file to .m4r?

No. A WAV holds uncompressed PCM in a RIFF container, while an M4R holds AAC in an MPEG-4 container. Renaming does not change the data, so iOS will not accept it as a ringtone. It has to be encoded, which is what this page does.

My WAV is 24-bit or 96 kHz. Does that matter?

Bit depth does not carry over into AAC, so a 24-bit source simply gives the encoder a clean input. For high sample rates (88.2, 96 or 192 kHz), set Audio Sample Rate to 44100 or 48000 Hz: a phone speaker cannot reproduce anything those extra samples capture, and the standard rates are the safe choice for a ringtone.

How long can the ringtone be?

Apple says iPhone ringtones can be up to 30 seconds long. A 40-second figure from the iTunes era is still quoted online, but it is not in Apple's current documentation, so trim to 30 seconds or less.

My ringtone is too quiet. What can I do?

The converter keeps the level of your WAV. Raise the gain or apply a limiter in your music app, leaving about 1 dB of headroom, export the WAV again and convert.

Can I convert a whole sound library at once?

Yes. Add many WAV files; the bitrate, channel, sample rate and trim settings apply to every file in the batch. Leave Trim at the start (0 seconds) with a 30-second duration for effects that begin at the top of the file.

What happens to my WAV files after conversion?

Processing is server-side. Files are uploaded over TLS (HTTPS), converted on xconvert's servers and deleted automatically after a few hours. No account is needed.