A system comprises a ringtone originator, a ringtone sharing device, and a ringtone receiver. The ringtone originator (e.g., one or more of a personal computer, a mobile telephone, a PDA, or other computing device) allows a user to generate ringtone content using audio content stored locally. A ringtone definition, describing characteristics of the audio content and manipulations used to transform the audio content to the ringtone content, is generated and is sent to the ringtone sharing device. The ringtone sharing device (e.g., a server operated by a commercial service provider or a mobile telephone service provider) stores a plurality of ringtone definitions that can be accessed by the ringtone receiver. The ringtone receiver (e.g., one or more of a personal computer, a mobile telephone, a PDA, or other computing device) can download the ringtone definition and recreate the ringtone content.