How To Set Any MP3 Song As Ringtone On iPhone

By Costea Lestoc
On May 6, 2013

One of the first things you want to customized on a new phone is its ringtone. Used with simple method on other phones, you may say that setting your favorite song for iPhone is a piece of cake.

Especially since the iPhone is presented as an easy to use phone. But if you’ve got to read this article, you already know that using its classical settings, you cannot set any MP3 song from your computer as a ringtone.

When I’ve bought the first iPhone I enjoyed it a lot, but when I wanted to change the ringtone I received a reply from a friend that I cannot do that.

Our curiosity and stubbornness push us to thoughts like “it must be possible”. So I looked, and I found not one but several ways to trick the phone.

Here’s one way I’ve found:

Step 1: Open iTunes and select the song you want to set as ringtone. Right click on it >> Get Info >> Options. Set the 40 seconds you want to have it as a ringtone in the Start and Stop Time fields. Doesn’t have to be from the beginning of the song. It may be, for example, only the chorus. Once you’ve decided, click OK.

Step 2: Select the new song. Right click >> Create AAC version. You see it has created a replica that is only 40 seconds.

Step 3: Select the song of 40 seconds, right click on it and select Show in Windows Explorer menu. This will open the folder where you saved the changed song.

Step 4: Delete from iTunes both songs. That does not mean that you will delete the songs from your computer, so you can tab OK on the alerts that appears then.

Step 5: In the folder that you opened with the new song of 40 sec. (Step 3), you will see that it has a .m4a extension. In this format, it cannot be a ringtone. All you have to do is to rename it and change from the .m4a to .m4r.

If you see only the name of the song, and not the extension, go to Control Panel >> Folder Options >> View tab >> uncheck Hide extensions from known files. Apply and OK.

Step 6: Double-click it and the new file will open in iTunes under Ringtones.

Now it only remains for you to synchronize your iPhone as usual and then choose from Settings >> Sounds of the phone, what ringtone your heart desires.