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These days we can customize practically everything – including our cell phone ringtones. The most popular cell phone on the market at the moment is the iPhone – which favors the m4a file format for its ringtones. We look in more detail at m4a ringtones in today’s guide.

What are m4a Ringtones?

An m4a ringtone is just like any other ringtone you would use on a phone but it has a file extension of .m4a. This type of file format was developed by Apple and has grown in popularity alongside its accompanying world-dominating products such as the iPhone, iTunes and iPods.

Although not new technology, m4a ringtones allow you to have your favorite song as a ringtone.

The popular Apple iPhone uses m4a audio files for their ringtones (although often with the extension .m4r), so there is an increased interest in m4a ringtone downloads at the moment. Other phones are also starting to favor m4a ringtones – we list some of these later on.

Generally iPhone m4a ringtones are limited to a length of thirty seconds however there are certain programs and software that allow you to create m4a ringtones of up to one minute.

Phones that use m4a Ringtones

Although the iPhone is the most popular phone that uses m4a ringtones, there are several others that do too – and the list is always expanding. Some phones support various file formats that include m4a whereas others will only work with m4a ringtones.

The latest BlackBerry phones support m4a ringtones, including the 8100 Pearl, the 9500 Storm and the 8800. The range of Motorola Droid phones support m4a ringtones along with other formats as well as the HTC Dream phone.

 

Others that support m4a ringtones include: the latest Sony Ericsson phones (including K700 and W550 phones); Nokia XpressMusic; Nokia N- and E-series phones; and Windows Phone 7.

Be aware that a lot of phones will only play m4a files as ringtones when they are converted into the .m4r format. The .m4r format is essentially exactly the same as .m4a but it stops you from using downloaded music as a ringtone – you need to download or convert a song into the .m4r format.

Download m4a Ringtones

If you want to change the ringtone on your phone you will need to make sure that the ringtone you download is compatible. In the case of the iPhone it will need to be the file format .m4a or .m4r. There are several ways in which you can get m4a ringtones on to your phone, with the easiest to buy them through the Apple store or the ringtone store of your particular phone manufacturer.

Through the store you can choose your favorite song and download it in the ringtone format – which will change the m4a file into an m4r file format and will be just a shorter snippet of the song. These are typically quite inexpensive – as long as you don’t want to change your ringtone daily!

However, you can also download m4a ringtones for free – or simply convert your already-owned audio files into a ringtone (which we look at below). There are several websites that offer free m4a ringtones, but beware of ones that claim they are free but then expect you to make payments for other services – which can end up costing a fortune!

Converting Audio Files into m4a Ringtones

If you don’t want to pay for m4a ringtones then your best option is to convert your favorite songs into a ringtone file. Unfortunately, due to copyright restrictions by most music stores you can access on your phone – they won’t automatically let you set it as your ringtone.

If you have m4a audio files but need to convert them into a ringtone file (such as .m4r for iPhones) then there are plenty of free converters that allow you to quickly and easily do this – try http://www.iphoneringtonecustom.com/convert-m4a-to-m4r.html.

You don’t necessarily have to have an .m4a file first to be able to create m4a ringtones. You can also convert .mp3 and other file formats into phone-compatible m4a ringtones. A popular and easy-to-use m4a ringtone converter is the iWellsoft MP3 to Ringtone Converter (http://download.cnet.com/iWellsoft-MP3-To-Ringtone-Converter/3000-2170_4-10671994.html).

Summary of m4a Ringtones

Everyone loves to customize their phone with their favorite song so knowing how to get hold of m4a ringtones easily is important. These days it’s easier than ever to get the ringtones you want on your phone – no matter what file format it is in.