How to Cut Audio and Make a Ringtone for Free
Trim any song or voice note to the exact seconds you want and save it as MP3 or M4A. Includes iPhone and Android ringtone tips and the right length.
Quick answer: open the Audio Cutter, pick your file, set the start and end time, and tap Cut audio. Download the clip as MP3 or M4A.
Step by step
- Open the Audio Cutter and choose an MP3, WAV, M4A, OGG or FLAC file (up to 40 MB). You can also pick an MP4 or MOV video to cut its audio.
- Press play on the preview. At the moment you want the clip to start, tap Use current time under Start. Do the same for End.
- Choose the output format (MP3 works everywhere, M4A is best for iPhone).
- Tap Cut audio and download your clip.
You can also type the times in seconds, for example start 12.5 and end 42.
How long should a ringtone be?
- iPhone: up to 30 seconds. Save as M4A, then set it in Settings or with the Apple Music/Files workflow.
- Android: most phones accept MP3 files of any length. Keep it under 30 seconds so it loops neatly. Place it in your Ringtones folder or pick it in Settings → Sound.
Tips for a clean cut
- Start a fraction of a second before the beat so it does not sound clipped.
- End on a natural pause rather than in the middle of a word or note.
- Play the clip once before setting it as a ringtone.
Other handy uses
- Trim the silence from the start of a voice message.
- Extract the best 15 seconds of a podcast to share.
- Make a short sound for a video edit.
Need a different format afterwards? Use the Audio Converter. To pull audio out of a video, use Video to MP3.
Does it lose quality?
The cut is re-encoded at a high bitrate (192 kbps for MP3 and M4A), so it sounds the same for ringtones and sharing. Choose WAV or FLAC if you need lossless output.
Privacy
Your file is processed on our server and deleted automatically: the upload right after cutting and the result within about 15 minutes.
See also: MP3 vs WAV vs FLAC vs M4A for choosing the right format.