Ring Tone Text Transfer Language (RTTTL) was developed by

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...

{{Citation needed, reason=Nokia Smart Messaging specification or early Nokia ringtone software (PC Composer) does not mention/support RTTTL; however, RTTTL was already in use those times by "NokRing" by John Mostelo., date=February 2010 to be used to transfer

ringtone A ringtone, ring tone or ring is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming call. Originally referring to and made by the electromechanical striking of bells, the term now refers to any sound on any device alerting of a new incoming ...

s to

cellphone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

by Nokia. The RTTTL format is a string divided into three sections: name, default value, and data. The ''jintu'' section consists of a string describing the name of the ringtone. It can be no longer than 10 characters, and cannot contain a colon ":" character. (However, since the

Smart Messaging Smart messaging is a proprietary service developed by Nokia used for the sending and receiving of various digital media via SMS. Graphical Picture message A monochrome picture that can be sent between handsets as a series of SMS messages. The t ...

specification allows names up to 15 characters in length, some applications processing RTTTL also do so.) The ''default value'' section is a set of values separated by commas, where each value contains a key and a value separated by an ''='' character, which describes certain defaults which should be adhered to during the execution of the ringtone. Possible names are * d -

duration Duration may refer to: * The amount of time elapsed between two events * Duration (music) – an amount of time or a particular time interval, often cited as one of the fundamental aspects of music * Duration (philosophy) – a theory of time and ...

* o -

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

* b -

beat Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ( ...

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

The ''data'' section consists of a set of character strings separated by commas, where each string contains a ''duration'', ''pitch'', ''octave'' and optional ''dotting'' (which increases the duration of the note by one half). The format of RTTTL notation is similar to the

Music Macro Language Music Macro Language (MML) is a music description language used in sequencing music on computer and video game systems. Background Early automatic music generation functions were used in arcade games, which used many computer sounds. An example ...

found in

BASIC BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College ...

implementations present on many early microcomputers.

Technical specification

To be recognized by ringtone programs, an RTTTL/Nokring format ringtone must contain three specific elements: name, settings, and notes. For example, here is the RTTTL ringtone for Haunted House:

HauntHouse: d=4,o=5,b=108: 2a4, 2e, 2d#, 2b4, 2a4, 2c, 2d, 2a#4, 2e., e, 1f4, 1a4, 1d#, 2e., d, 2c., b4, 1a4, 1p, 2a4, 2e, 2d#, 2b4, 2a4, 2c, 2d, 2a#4, 2e., e, 1f4, 1a4, 1d#, 2e., d, 2c., b4, 1a4

The three parts are separated by a colon. * Part 1: name of the ringtone (here: "HauntHouse"), a string of characters represents the name of the ringtone * Part 2: settings (here: d=4,o=5,b=108), where "d=" is the default duration of a note. In this case, the "4" means that each note with no duration specifier (see below) is by default considered a

quarter note A quarter note (American) or crotchet ( ) (British) is a note (music), musical note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note (or semibreve). Quarter notes are notated with a filled-in oval note head and a straight, flagless ste ...

. "8" would mean an

eighth note 180px, Figure 1. An eighth note with stem extending up, an eighth note with stem extending down, and an eighth rest. 180px, Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together. An eighth note (American) or a quaver (British) is a musical note play ...

, and so on. Accordingly, "o=" is the default

. There are four octaves in the Nokring/RTTTL format. And "b=" is the

, in "beats per minute". * Part 3: the notes. Each note is separated by a comma and includes, in sequence: a duration specifier, a standard music note, either a, b, c, d, e, f or g, and an octave specifier, as in

scientific pitch notation Scientific pitch notation (SPN), also known as American standard pitch notation (ASPN) and international pitch notation (IPN), is a method of specifying musical Pitch (music), pitch by combining a musical Note (music), note name (with accidental ...

. If no duration or octave specifier are present, the default applies.

Durations

Standard musical durations are denoted by the following notations: * 1 -

whole note A whole note (American) or semibreve (British) in musical notation is a single note equivalent to or lasting as long as two half notes or four quarter notes. Description The whole note or semibreve has a note head in the shape of a hollow ov ...

* 2 -

half note ''Half Note'' is a live album by saxophonist Clifford Jordan which was recorded in 1974 and first released on the SteepleChase label in 1985.quarter note A quarter note (American) or crotchet ( ) (British) is a note (music), musical note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note (or semibreve). Quarter notes are notated with a filled-in oval note head and a straight, flagless ste ...

* 8 -

* 16 -

sixteenth note Figure 1. A 16th note with stem facing up, a 16th note with stem facing down, and a 16th rest. Figure 2. Four 16th notes beamed together. In music, a 1/16, sixteenth note (American) or semiquaver (British) is a note played for half the dura ...

* 32 -

thirty-second note In music, a thirty-second note (American) or demisemiquaver (British) is a Musical note, note played for of the duration of a whole note (or ''semibreve''). It lasts half as long as a sixteenth note (or ''semiquaver'') and twice as long as ...

Dotted

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...

patterns can be formed by appending a period (".") character to the end of a duration/beat/octave element.

Pitch

* P - rest or pause * A - A * A# - A♯ / B♭ * B - B / C♭ * C - C * C# - C♯ / D♭ * D - D * D# - D♯ / E♭ * E - E / F♭ * F - F / E♯ * F# - F♯ / G♭ * G - G * G# - G♯ / A♭

Octave

The RTTTL format allows octaves starting from the A below middle C and going up four octaves. This corresponds with the inability of

s to reproduce certain tones audibly. These octaves are numbered from lowest pitch to highest pitch from 4 to 7. The

should be left out of the notation in the case of a rest or pause in the pattern.

Example

An example of the RTTTL format would be fifth:d=4,o=5,b=63:8P,8G5,8G5,8G5,2D#5

References

How do I distinguish a Nokring/RTTTL ringtone from other ringtones?
(Eric Bematchez, about.com)
RTTTL specification document in Backus-Naur notation

External links

Convert RTTTL to other formats
Computer file formats Mobile telecommunications standards Musical notation