Make a ringtone from any song

The iPhone ringtone file

An iPhone ringtone is an AAC sound file with the .m4r extension. Octoolo writes it at 192 kbps and 48 kHz stereo, which comes to about 1 MB for a full 40 seconds, and the Export dialog shows the length and size before you save.

Forty seconds is the most an iPhone ringtone can last, so the Ringtone export keeps the first 40 seconds of your track and leaves out anything after that. Two things follow:

• Start at 0:00. The ringtone begins at the start of the track, not where your sound begins. If you trimmed the front of the song, slide it back to the left edge, or the ringtone opens with silence.
• Trim before you fade. A fade out at the end of a three-minute song never makes it into a 40-second ringtone. Cut the sound down to 40 seconds or less first, then set the fade.

Getting the ringtone onto an iPhone from Windows

From a PC, the usual way onto an iPhone is Apple's own software. With iTunes for Windows, connect the iPhone with its cable, click the phone icon, and drag the .m4r file onto Tones under On My Device. Apple's newer Apple Devices app for Windows also syncs files to an iPhone. Menus change between versions, so if yours look different, Apple's support pages have the current steps.

Once it is on the phone, choose it in Settings, Sounds & Haptics, Ringtone. You can also give it to just one person from their contact card, so you know who is calling before you even look.

Older guides describe another route through iTunes itself: setting start and stop times on a song, creating an AAC version and renaming .m4a to .m4r by hand. Octoolo skips those steps and writes the .m4r directly.

Ringtones for Android phones

Android phones play MP3 ringtones, so export MP3. There is no 40-second limit on Android, but a ringtone only plays while the phone rings, so 20 to 30 seconds with a fade out is plenty.

To put it on the phone, connect it with a USB cable, allow file transfer on the phone when it asks, and copy the MP3 into its Ringtones folder in File Explorer. Then pick it in the phone's sound settings, usually under Sound and Phone ringtone. Phone makers name these menus differently, so look for the word ringtone if yours do not match. The same MP3 becomes a notification or alarm sound when you copy it into the Notifications or Alarms folder instead.

Choosing a part that works

The part of a song that makes a good ringtone is rarely its first few seconds. Most intros are quiet and slow to get going, and from a pocket you hear nothing until the phone has rung three times. Start on something recognizable instead: the hook of the chorus, a guitar riff, the line everybody sings along to.

Loudness matters too. Phones play ringtones through small speakers, so a song with a soft opening or a quiet live recording can vanish in a busy room. Even out loudness brings it to a solid level, and Volume goes up to 200% for more. A ringtone does not have to be music either: record your child laughing or a jingle of your own with Record your voice, drop the WAV in and export it the same way.