Where are ringtones and notification sounds stored?

Sandman333

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Where are these files stored on the internal phone storage? I'm not talking about the SD card. I discovered the source of a problem wherein my phone would seemingly randomly change my notifications. I found out it happened every time I plugged the phone into my computer via a USB cable. What happens is that the ringtones and notifications for email, SMS, and any other app that stores these files on the SD card cannot find them once the phone is plugged into a computer via USB if the phone is set to allow direct access via the computer. Since the phone cannot find the associated ringtone or notification sound, it just randomly assigns another and does not switch it back once the phone is unplugged. I'm hoping to find the location of the internal storage where the stock ring tones and notification sounds are kept so that I can put my custom ring tones and notifications there. The stock notifications are never disturbed. This way, my custom settings won't be either. The only other solution is to never plug my phone into the computer again. Really, this is a bit of stupidity on Android's part. I can understand why the phone cannot access these files while it is plugged in, as the SD card is not accessible to the phone at all at that point. However, the OS should recognize what has happened and revert to the selected sounds once the SD card is accessible again. Instead, I have to go back and change every single custom ring tone and notification sound after every time I plug the phone into the computer. What a PITA,

Anyone know where these files are stored and how to get my files in there?
 

B. Diddy

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You need to use a 3rd party file manager like Total Commander to find them. The directory is /system/media/audio/ringtones. However, the directory is read-only. I just tested copying a ringtone to that folder and got an error message. You'd probably have to root the phone to do what you're doing.

I've read your other posts, and am puzzled why you're unable to put your ringtones on your internal storage (as opposed to the external SD card) and have them recognized. I have all of my own ringtones in the folder /storage/sdcard0/Ringtones, and the system doesn't have any problems bringing them up in the Settings menu. Since they're in internal storage, the ringtone doesn't reset when I connect via USB. This doesn't work for you?

Have you tried a cache partition wipe?
 

Sandman333

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I think that will work. I tried copying them there but didn't see them available right away. Maybe I have to give the phone a few minutes to see the new files?

I tried switching the mode to MTP but that caused other problems.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 4
 
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folkedangel35

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So I was trying to put my own ringtone on my HTC One so I could set it for my texts, but I was having the same problem as you. I discovered that if you copy and paste the file(s) for your ringtone into the sound and notification folders, it'll be added to your phone. Just open the internal storage folder in Explorer (or through the drive for your phone), and add the file(s) to the notification subfolder (in the media folder) and the ringtones folder. The song(s) should then show up in the notification sound list. I hope this helps.
 

theIceberg

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So I was trying to put my own ringtone on my HTC One so I could set it for my texts, but I was having the same problem as you. I discovered that if you copy and paste the file(s) for your ringtone into the sound and notification folders, it'll be added to your phone. Just open the internal storage folder in Explorer (or through the drive for your phone), and add the file(s) to the notification subfolder (in the media folder) and the ringtones folder. The song(s) should then show up in the notification sound list. I hope this helps.


I was able to do it without rooting. If you have Facebook try putting your custom mp3 ringtone inside the storage/sdcard0/media/audio/notifications folder. My txt message settings recognized it
 
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t4akawolf

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I was able to do it without rooting. If you have Facebook try putting your custom mp3 ringtone inside the storage/sdcard0/media/audio/notifications folder. My txt message settings recognized it :)

Thank you! This works!

Also, just a note for anyone else facing this issue:
If this method doesn't work for you (if your phone won't recognize the sound), check if the file you copied is in ".mp3" format. I don't know if it's an Android limitation, or if it's just my phone, but I had to convert it into ".ogg" format for it to work.
So, try that. You could also try ".m4a" format (that worked for me too) but the flle-size would probably be a little higher, so I wouldn't prefer this over the other one.
 

Zbynek Kysela

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Worked! Thanks :)

I just e-mailed the ringtone .mp3 to myself, then downloaded the file to my phone.
Using X-Plore app then copied the file from Internal storage /download to Internal storage /media/audio/notifications

You are then immediately able to find the mp3 in setting between other ringtones :)
 

bevhoward

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To clarify;

Default audio files used for ringtones, notifications, etc, on android devices are stored in;
/system/media/audio/ringtones
...which is read only.
There are also other audio folders here as well.
The audio files here can be copied to sdcard locations and can then be used elsewhere.

The sdcard location for ringtones is;
/sdcard/Ringtones
other locations for these files are;
/sdcard/Notifications
/sdcard/Alarms
The user has read/write permission in the sdcard folders so any ringtone can be copied to these directories.

When apps settings offer notification and ringtone selection options, all of the files in the above locations (system and sdcard) will appear together and can be selected.

Hope that this information is useful,
Beverly Howard
 

Valepika

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Hi everyone :)
I have my own ringtones in .mp3 format, my phone recognized all of them, but the system lose settings every time after restart, airplane, connect to PC. In settings I find "default ringtone" but doesn't ring, just vibrate, and I did miss lots of important calls. Now I'll try with converted ones and to put them via some root-app :)
 

Valepika

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No - it didn't work. I cannot paste anything in < /system/media/audio/ringtones >
The folder is write protected and I couldn't remove the protection with Root Browser.
 

RojCowles

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What just worked for me was to install AndSMB (free SMB client) on my old S3 and S7 and have a writeable SMB partition on a PC to copy to/from. On the S3 connect to the SMB server (actually a Linux box running Samba in my case) and on the phone navigate to /system/media/audio/ringtones. Selected all the .ogg files and uploaded them. On the S7 start AndSMB, connect to the server, on the phone navigate to the /sdcard/ringtones folder and on the PC navigate to the upload location, select all the ringtones and download. Go to Contacts and Alarms on my S7 and I can see all of my old ringtones so now my S7 sounds much more like my S3 ... Yay!
 

kellyjsox

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I admit I'm not all that sophisticated with this stuff, so please don't laugh. I can't find a "system" folder anywhere. I see "Android" under which is data, media, and obb. But none of these contain the stock notification tones. I'm running Android 6.0 on a Samsung Galaxy S7. What am I missing?

P.S. I'm only doing this because of the Twitter issue with changing the notification tone. Someone in another forum thread suggested changing it using a particular app, but in order to do that you have to know where the desired tone is. That's why I need to find the location of the stock tones.
 

bevhoward

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>> Stock Notification Tone <<
Shift gears a bit...

First, you cannot (unless you "root" your device) delete system tone/sound files. In fact you can't even see those files in most cases outside of app settings.

What you _can_ do is to add any ringtone that you want to use to the ringtone, notification, etc folders on your storage/sdcard even if they are empty.

Once you do that, you then go to the specific app's "settings" and open it's notification sounds settings.

If you have uploaded a ringtone file (not app) that is of an acceptable type, those tones will then be visible _in addition_ to the system default tones and you can select them in place of the default sounds.

Hope that this information is helpful. Repost if you need more info or help.
Beverly Howard
 

kellyjsox

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In fact you can't even see those files in most cases outside of app settings.
Does that mean I can't use ES File Explorer to change my Twitter notification tone to another stock tone?

Oops, I just realized I'm in a device-specific thead. Sorry! I'll take my question elsewhere!
 
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bevhoward

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>> use ES File Explorer <<

OK, I went above and beyond on this one since I did not have the Twitter app installed, but I downloaded and installed it and logged in to confirm my suspicions ...the Twitter app is now uninstalled ;-)

Open the Twitter app and select settings/notifications/mobilenotifications/ringtones

All of the available ringtones should then be visible and selectable. If you have ESFileExplorer installed, it will be an option to select the file you want.

If you don't see a notification tone/file that is acceptable, with ES file explorer you can add a ringtone file to the ringtones folder in "storage" or "sdcard" After you do that, when you return to twitter settings and select the file you loaded into that folder.

Beverly Howard
 

kellyjsox

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Yes, you can select another tone, but there's no "save" button. As soon as you back out, it reverts to the default tone.

>> use ES File Explorer <<

OK, I went above and beyond on this one since I did not have the Twitter app installed, but I downloaded and installed it and logged in to confirm my suspicions ...the Twitter app is now uninstalled ;-)

Open the Twitter app and select settings/notifications/mobilenotifications/ringtones

All of the available ringtones should then be visible and selectable. If you have ESFileExplorer installed, it will be an option to select the file you want.

If you don't see a notification tone/file that is acceptable, with ES file explorer you can add a ringtone file to the ringtones folder in "storage" or "sdcard" After you do that, when you return to twitter settings and select the file you loaded into that folder.

Beverly Howard
(But thanks for trying anyway )
 
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