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How to make a ringtone from any song

A custom ringtone is just a short, well-chosen clip of a song that fades out cleanly. You don't need a phone app or a paid program to make one — you can do the whole thing in your browser in about five minutes, and because the editing happens on your own device, the song you upload never leaves your computer.

This guide uses AudioTrim, a free online audio cutter. The steps are the same whether you're making a ringtone for iPhone or Android; the only difference is how you load the finished file onto your phone, which we cover at the end.

What you'll need

The song you want to use, as an MP3, M4A, WAV or OGG file.
A rough idea of which part you want — usually the chorus or a recognizable hook.
About five minutes.

Step by step

Open the song. Go to audiotrim.app and drag your file onto the upload box, or click to browse for it. The track appears as a waveform almost instantly — there's no upload wait because nothing is being sent anywhere.
Find the section you want. Press Play and listen for the part you'd like as your ringtone. Watch the waveform as it plays so you can see where the hook begins and ends.
Select 20–30 seconds. Drag across the waveform to highlight your clip. Aim for 20 to 30 seconds — long enough to recognize, short enough to loop nicely. Use the zoom (🔍) buttons to fine-tune the start and end points, or type exact times into the selection boxes.
Trim to the selection. Click Trim (keep selection). Everything outside your highlighted region is removed, leaving just the clip.
Add a fade out. With nothing selected (or the whole clip selected), click Fade out. This makes the ringtone taper off gently instead of stopping mid-note, which sounds far more polished. A short Fade in at the start is optional but nice.
Download as MP3. Open the Download section, pick a bitrate (192 kbps is a good balance of quality and size), and click Download MP3. Your ringtone saves to your device.

Tip: If you want the clip to loop seamlessly, choose a section that starts and ends on a downbeat, and keep the fade-out short (one to two seconds). For an alarm or notification sound, 5–10 seconds is plenty.

Putting it on your phone

iPhone

iPhones use the M4R format and ringtones are installed through GarageBand or Finder/iTunes. The simplest route is to import your MP3 into GarageBand on the iPhone, then share it as a ringtone. Apple limits ringtones to 30 seconds, so keep your clip at or under that length.

Android

Android is more flexible: copy the MP3 to your phone (via USB, Google Drive, or email to yourself), then open Settings → Sound → Ringtone and pick the file, or set it per-contact from the contact's edit screen. Many phones also let you tap "Add ringtone" and browse straight to the file.

Frequently asked questions

Is it legal to make a ringtone from a song I own?

Making a ringtone from music you've legally purchased, for your own personal use, is generally fine. Distributing or selling ringtones made from copyrighted songs is not. When in doubt, use music you own or tracks licensed for personal use.

What's the best length for a ringtone?

20–30 seconds for a phone ringtone, since that's roughly how long it rings before going to voicemail. For notification or text tones, 3–8 seconds works better.

Will the quality drop?

Exporting at 192 or 320 kbps keeps the clip sounding essentially identical to the source. Trimming itself doesn't degrade audio — you're just keeping a portion of the original samples.

Do I need to install anything?

No. AudioTrim runs in your browser. There's no app, no signup, and no watermark on the result.

Make your ringtone now →