Cut M4R

How to Cut an M4R Ringtone Online

1. Upload Your M4R: Drag and drop the .m4r ringtone or click to browse. The tone appears on a timeline with an input preview.
2. Split the Tone into Segments: Move the playhead to where an unwanted part starts and click the timeline to split the segment there, then split again where it ends. Each segment is listed under Cut Segments with its Start, End and duration, which you can type exactly.
3. Mark What to Remove: Toggle each unwanted segment from Keep to Remove. At least one segment must stay on Keep. The kept segments are joined, in order, into one tone; keep the total at 30 seconds or less for an iPhone.
4. Cut and Download: In Output Setting, choose Same As Input or M4R, then click "Cut & Download". The file is uploaded over HTTPS, processed on xconvert's servers and deleted automatically after a few hours. No sign-up, no watermark.

Why Cut an M4R File?

M4R is the iPhone ringtone format: 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 that the file is a tone. Cutting removes the part you select and stitches the rest back together, so it is the tool for problems in the middle of a ringtone. Trimming only shortens the ends.

When cutting beats trimming:

• A gap or a pause in the middle. A recorded voice tone with a long breath between two phrases, or a song clip with a drop-out, gets tighter when the gap is removed.
• A word or line you do not want. Remove one phrase from a spoken clip or a lyric from a chorus and keep everything around it.
• Getting under 30 seconds without losing the ending. Apple Support says ringtones can be up to 30 seconds long. If a 34-second tone has a great start and a great finish, remove four seconds from the middle instead of chopping the end.
• Several separate highlights. Keep two or three short moments from a longer tone and drop what is between them.

Joins sound most natural on a beat or in a quiet moment, so place split points there, play the output preview, and nudge the times if a join clicks or skips. The kept audio is re-encoded as AAC at roughly the source bitrate.

To keep a single section instead, use Trim M4R. For other audio formats, the general Audio Cutter works the same way, and Cut M4A covers M4A files you want to keep as songs.

Cut vs Trim: Which M4R Tool?

Property	Cut M4R	Trim M4R
What you select	Segments to remove	One section to keep
Result	The kept segments joined into one tone	One continuous section
Can remove the middle	Yes	No
Controls	Split points, Keep/Remove toggle, Start and End per segment	Start/end handles, Start Time (s) and End Time (s)
Output	M4R (AAC)	M4R (AAC)

Common Cuts and What to Remove

Problem in the tone	Segments to mark Remove	Tip
Silent lead-in plus a gap mid-way	The lead-in and the gap	Split just before sound resumes so nothing is clipped
Tone runs 34 seconds	About 4 seconds from the middle	Remove a repeated bar so the rhythm stays even
Unwanted word in a voice clip	The word, with a little space around it	Leave a short pause so the join sounds natural
Two highlights 20 s apart	Everything between them	Check the join in the output preview

How to Set the Edited Tone as Your Ringtone on iPhone

The usual ways to get the .m4r onto the phone:

• 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 tone with iTunes.
• iPhone only: save it to 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 a ringtone over 30 seconds automatically on export (GarageBand for iPhone User Guide).

Then choose it in Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Ringtone (iPhone User Guide). For one caller, open Contacts, pick the person, tap Edit and set Ringtone or Text Tone.

Using the Tone on Android?

Android does not need M4R; Android ringtones are usually MP3 or OGG. Convert the edited tone with M4R to MP3.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Cut M4R and Trim M4R?

Cut removes the selection: you split the tone into segments, mark the unwanted ones as Remove, and the kept segments are joined into one file. Trim keeps the selection: you choose one section and everything outside it is dropped.

Will the joins be audible?

They can be if a split lands in the middle of a note or word. Split on a beat or in a quiet moment, play the output preview, and adjust the Start and End values by a tenth of a second if needed.

Does cutting reduce audio quality?

The kept audio is re-encoded as AAC at roughly the source bitrate, one more lossy generation. It is very hard to hear through a phone speaker, but work from the original tone rather than cutting the same file repeatedly.

How long can the finished ringtone be?

Apple says iPhone ringtones can be up to 30 seconds long. A 40-second limit is still quoted from the iTunes era, but it is not in Apple's current documentation, so keep the total of the kept segments at 30 seconds or less.

Can I cut an M4R on my iPhone?

Yes. Open the page in Safari, pick the .m4r from Files, split and mark segments, then cut and save the result to Files. Install it with a computer or the GarageBand route above.

Why is the Cut & Download button disabled?

Every segment is set to Remove. Switch at least one segment back to Keep; there has to be some audio left to save.

Are my files stored?

Only briefly. Files are uploaded over TLS (HTTPS), processed on xconvert's servers and deleted automatically after a few hours. No account is needed.