pacat - Play back or record raw or encoded audio streams on a
PulseAudio sound server
paplay [options] [FILE]
parecord [options] [FILE]
pacat [options] [FILE]
parec [options] [FILE]
pamon [options] [FILE]
pacat --help
pacat --version
pacat is a simple tool for playing back or capturing raw or
encoded audio files on a PulseAudio sound server. It understands all audio
file formats supported by libsndfile.
- -h | --help
- Show help.
- --version
- Show version information.
- -r | --record
- Capture audio data and write it to the specified file or to STDOUT if none
is specified. If the tool is called under the name parec this is
the default.
- -p | --playback
- Read audio data from the specified file or STDIN if none is specified, and
play it back. If the tool is called under the name pacat this is
the default.
- -v | --verbose
- Enable verbose operation. Dumps the current playback time to STDERR during
playback/capturing.
- -s |
--server=SERVER
- Choose the server to connect to.
- -d |
--device=SINKORSOURCE
- Specify the symbolic name of the sink/source to play/record this stream
on/from. The special names , and can be used to specify the default sink,
source and monitor respectively.
- --monitor-stream=INDEX
- Record from the sink input with index INDEX.
- -n |
--client-name=NAME
- Specify the client name paplay shall pass to the server when
connecting.
- --stream-name=NAME
- Specify the stream name paplay shall pass to the server when
creating the stream.
- --volume=VOLUME
- Specify the initial playback volume to use. Choose a value between 0
(silent) and 65536 (100% volume).
- --rate=SAMPLERATE
- Capture or play back audio with the specified sample rate. Defaults to
44100 Hz.
- --format=FORMAT
- Capture or play back audio with the specified sample format. See
https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/Documentation/User/SupportedAudioFormats/
for supported values. Defaults to s16ne.
- --channels=CHANNELS
- Capture or play back audio with the specified number of channels. If more
than two channels are used it is recommended to use the
--channel-map option below. Defaults to 2.
- --channel-map=CHANNELMAP
- Explicitly choose a channel map when playing back this stream. The
argument should be a comma separated list of channel names:
front-left, front-right, mono, front-center,
rear-left, rear-right, rear-center, lfe,
front-left-of-center, front-right-of-center,
side-left, side-right, top-center,
top-front-center, top-front-left, top-front-right,
top-rear-left, top-rear-right, top-rear-center, or
any of the 32 auxiliary channel names aux0 to aux31.
- --fix-format
- If passed, the sample format of the stream is changed to the native format
of the sink the stream is connected to.
- --fix-rate
- If passed, the sampling rate of the stream is changed to the native rate
of the sink the stream is connected to.
- --fix-channels
- If passed, the number of channels and the channel map of the stream is
changed to the native number of channels and the native channel map of the
sink the stream is connected to.
- --no-remix
- Never upmix or downmix channels.
- --no-remap
- Never remap channels. Instead of mapping channels by their name this will
match them solely by their index/order.
- --latency=BYTES
- Explicitly configure the latency, with a time specified in bytes in the
selected sample format. If left out the server will pick the latency,
usually relatively high for power saving reasons. Use either this option
or --latency-msec, but not both.
- --latency-msec=MSEC
- Explicitly configure the latency, with a time specified in milliseconds.
If left out the server will pick the latency, usually relatively high for
power saving reasons. Use either this option or --latency, but not
both.
- --process-time=BYTES
- Explicitly configure the process time, with a time specified in bytes in
the selected sample format. If left out the server will pick the process
time. Use either this option or --process-time-msec, but not
both.
- --process-time-msec=MSEC
- Explicitly configure the process time, with a time specified in
milliseconds. If left out the server will pick the process time. Use
either this option or --process-time, but not both.
- --property=PROPERTY=VALUE
- Attach a property to the client and stream. May be used multiple
times
- --raw
- Play/record raw audio data. This is the default if this program is invoked
as pacat, parec or pamon.
- --file-format[=FFORMAT]
- Play/record encoded audio data in the file format specified. This is the
default if this program is invoked as paplay and
parecord.
- --list-file-formats
- List supported file formats.
Due to a limitation in libsndfile paplay currently
does not always set the correct channel mapping for playback of multichannel
(i.e. surround) audio files, even if the channel mapping information is
available in the audio file.
The PulseAudio Developers <pulseaudio-discuss (at) lists (dot)
freedesktop (dot) org>; PulseAudio is available from
http://pulseaudio.org/