Flash-era sounds for Flash-era phones
Flash cartoons, games and music videos and the first colour mobile phones belong to the same years. Many people want to put a familiar theme tune, a cartoon line or a short song on an older phone. Those phones, especially Samsung models and other devices with Yamaha sound chips, use MMF files for ringtones. MMF files use SMAF, a compact mono format designed for small phone speakers. To convert FLV to MMF is the direct way to turn that sound into a ringtone.
Choosing the right part
A ringtone works best when it is short and recognisable. Typical lengths are 10 to 30 seconds. In Trim & tags:
- Play the FLV and pause just before the sound you want.
- Press Use current time for the start.
- Play on and press Use current time for the end.
- Check the selection, then press Extract audio.
Choose a part with a clear melody or voice. Busy music with many instruments turns muddy on a small speaker, while a simple tune or a spoken line stays easy to recognise.
What quality to expect
MMF is mono and uses simple compression. On a computer it will sound flat and a little rough. That is how the format works, and on the phone it will sound as it should. The original FLV sound, usually MP3 or AAC, is always re-encoded, because MMF has its own codec. The conversion runs in your browser and is very quick for a short ringtone.
How to install it
Connect the phone to a computer with a cable, or put its memory card in a card reader, and copy the MMF into the folder for sounds or ringtones. Some phones also accept files over Bluetooth. Then choose the new sound in the phone's ringtone settings. If the phone does not list it, check that the file name ends in .mmf and contains only Latin letters and numbers.
For modern phones, other formats are better: FLV to MP3 for Android ringtones and FLV to M4R for iPhone. More options are on the FLV converter page.