1pacat(1) General Commands Manual pacat(1)
2
6 pacat - Play back or record raw or encoded audio streams on a PulseAu‐
7 dio sound server
8
10 paplay [options] [FILE]
11 parecord [options] [FILE]
13 pacat [options] [FILE]
15 parec [options] [FILE]
17 pamon [options] [FILE]
19 pacat --help
21 pacat --version
23
25 pacat is a simple tool for playing back or capturing raw or encoded
26 audio files on a PulseAudio sound server.
27
29 -h | --help
30 Show help.
31 --version
33 Show version information.
34 -r | --record
36 Capture audio data and write it to the specified file or to STD‐
37 OUT if none is specified. If the tool is called under the name
38 parec this is the default.
39 -p | --playback
41 Read audio data from the specified file or STDIN if none is
42 specified, and play it back. If the tool is called under the
43 name pacat this is the default.
44 -v | --verbose
46 Enable verbose operation. Dumps the current playback time to
47 STDERR during playback/capturing.
48 -s | --server=SERVER
50 Choose the server to connect to.
51 -d | --device=SINKORSOURCE
53 Specify the symbolic name of the sink/source to play/record this
54 stream on/from.
55 -n | --client-name=NAME
57 Specify the client name paplay shall pass to the server when
58 connecting.
59 --stream-name=NAME
61 Specify the stream name paplay shall pass to the server when
62 creating the stream.
63 --volume=VOLUME
65 Specify the initial playback volume to use. Choose a value
66 between 0 (silent) and 65536 (100% volume).
67 --rate=SAMPLERATE
69 Capture or play back audio with the specified sample rate.
70 Defaults to 44100 Hz.
71 --format=FORMAT
73 Capture or play back audio with the specified sample format.
74 Specify one of u8, s16le, s16be, s32le, s32be, float32le,
75 float32be, ulaw, alaw, s32le, s32be, s24le, s24be, s24-32le,
76 s24-32be. Depending on the endianess of the CPU the formats
77 s16ne, s16re, s32ne, s32re, float32ne, float32re, s32ne, s32re,
78 s24ne, s24re, s24-32ne, s24-32re (for native, resp. reverse
79 endian) are available as aliases. Defaults to s16ne.
80 --channels=CHANNELS
82 Capture or play back audio with the specified number of chan‐
83 nels. If more than two channels are used it is recommended to
84 use the --channel-map option below. Defaults to 2.
85 --channel-map=CHANNELMAP
87 Explicitly choose a channel map when playing back this stream.
88 The argument should be a comma separated list of channel names:
89 front-left, front-right, mono, front-center, rear-left, rear-
90 right, rear-center, lfe, front-left-of-center, front-right-of-
91 center, side-left, side-right, top-center, top-front-center,
92 top-front-left, top-front-right, top-rear-left, top-rear-right,
93 top-rear-center, or any of the 32 auxiliary channel names aux0
94 to aux31.
95 --fix-format
97 If passed, the sample format of the stream is changed to the
98 native format of the sink the stream is connected to.
99 --fix-rate
101 If passed, the sampling rate of the stream is changed to the
102 native rate of the sink the stream is connected to.
103 --fix-channels
105 If passed, the number of channels and the channel map of the
106 stream is changed to the native number of channels and the
107 native channel map of the sink the stream is connected to.
108 --no-remix
110 Never upmix or downmix channels.
111 --no-remap
113 Never remap channels. Instead of mapping channels by their name
114 this will match them solely by their index/order.
115 --latency=BYTES
117 Explicitly configure the latency, with a time specified in bytes
118 in the selected sample format. If left out the server will pick
119 the latency, usually relatively high for power saving reasons.
120 Use either this option or --latency-msec, but not both.
121 --latency-msec=MSEC
123 Explicitly configure the latency, with a time specified in
124 miliseconds. If left out the server will pick the latency, usu‐
125 ally relatively high for power saving reasons. Use either this
126 option or --latency, but not both.
127 --process-time=BYTES
129 Explicitly configure the process time, with a time specified in
130 bytes in the selected sample format. If left out the server will
131 pick the process time. Use either this option or --process-time-
132 msec, but not both.
133 --process-time-msec=MSEC
135 Explicitly configure the process time, with a time specified in
136 miliseconds. If left out the server will pick the process time.
137 Use either this option or --process-time, but not both.
138 --property=PROPERTY=VALUE
140 Attach a property to the client and stream. May be used multiple
141 times
142 --raw Play/record raw audio data. This is the default if this program
144 is invoked as pacat , parec or pamon
145 --file-format[=FFORMAT]
147 Play/record encoded audio data in the file format specified.
148 This is the default if this program is invoked as paplay and
149 parecord
150 --list-file-formats
152 List supported file formats.
153
155 The PulseAudio Developers <mzchyfrnhqvb (at) 0pointer (dot) net>;
156 PulseAudio is available from http://pulseaudio.org/
157
159 pulseaudio(1), pactl(1)
160Manuals User pacat(1)