How to Set MP3 as Ringtone on iPhone with/without iTunes

As an iPhone user, you may want to set loved songs as ringtones on your iPhone, and set different ringtones for some particular persons like mum and dad, and also set custom alarm clock ringtone. If you are the one who want to do these but don’t know how to, read on, this article will show you 2 simple ways of setting MP3 as ringtone on iPhone.

Apple allows you to customize unique ringtones for your iPhone by making a ringtone from an MP3 file, but you cannot automatically add MP3 files to iPhone, then set as ringtones. You must with the aid of iTunes to convert MP3 to the correct format so that your iPhone can recognize it as a ringtone. This is the traditional method we will show you in detail at part 2. First of all, we’d like to recommend you another easier way – using AnyTrans, which lets you set MP3 as ringtone on your just in 3 steps.

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Part 1. How to Set MP3 as Ringtone on iPhone with AnyTrans

AnyTrans is an outstanding iOS data management tool, which dedicates to bring convenience for iOS user to transfer & manage iPhone/iPad/iPod contents. With AnyTrans, you can mange kinds of your iPhone data in a convenient way, including photos, videos, music, ringtones, messages, contacts, notes, books, Safari bookmarks, iBooks and so on.

For transferring MP3 as ringtones, AnyTrans will auto convert MP3 as m4r format (m4r is the only format that iPhone can recognize as ringtone) for you during the sync process. Which is iTunes can’t do. Now, download and install AnyTrans on your Mac or PC and follow steps below to make it.

Step 1 Launch AnyTrans > Connect your iPhone to computer via USB cable > Click at the top of the interface, choose Ringtone Manager.

Step 2 Click Customize Ringtone, you can directly drag and drop music file to the editing bar, or select one from your computer, device or iTunes Library.

Step 3 Open the music file, then you can drag the slider to set the duration of the ringtone. After finishing it, you can choose to save the ringtone to Ringtone Library in AnyTrans or to import the ringtone to your device.

Part 2. How to Set MP3 as Ringtone on iPhone with iTunes

Step 1 Open iTunes and connect your iPhone as well.

Step 2 Add the MP3 to iTunes. Right-click the song and choose Get Info.

Step 3 Click the Options tab.

Step 4 Set the Start Time and Stop Time, you can customize the length, but generally we set it as 30 seconds. Then Click “OK”.

Step 5 Click the song again and click file > Choose Create AAC Version. iTunes will convert your specified 30 seconds into a new song.

Step 6 Drag the new AAC version out of iTunes and into the folder you select.

Step 7 Delete the 30-second version from iTunes.

Step 8 Open the folder containing the 30-second AAC file you dragged out of iTunes, right-click and choose “Rename” to change the file extension from .m4a to .m4r and confirm.

Step 9 Double-click it and it will be added to iTunes’ ringtone library.

Step 10 Finally, sync your iPhone. Then you can head into the Settings and select your new ringtone.

The Bottom Line

As you can see, Method 1 is easier than Method 2. Using AnyTrans you can easily set mp3 as ringtone on iPhone without tedious operations. In addition, you can transfer multiple songs at the same time at once. Besides, you can also use AnyTrans to transfer songs among iPhone/iPad/iPod and computer. Now, download it to have a try >