1pacat(1)                    General Commands Manual                   pacat(1)
2
3
4

NAME

6       pacat  - Play back or record raw or encoded audio streams on a PulseAu‐
7       dio sound server
8

SYNOPSIS

10       paplay [options] [FILE]
11
12       parecord [options] [FILE]
13
14       pacat [options] [FILE]
15
16       parec [options] [FILE]
17
18       pamon [options] [FILE]
19
20       pacat --help
21
22       pacat --version
23

DESCRIPTION

25       pacat is a simple tool for playing back or  capturing  raw  or  encoded
26       audio files on a PulseAudio sound server. It understands all audio file
27       formats supported by libsndfile.
28

OPTIONS

30       -h | --help
31              Show help.
32
33       --version
34              Show version information.
35
36       -r | --record
37              Capture audio data and write it to the specified file or to STD‐
38              OUT  if  none is specified. If the tool is called under the name
39              parec this is the default.
40
41       -p | --playback
42              Read audio data from the specified file  or  STDIN  if  none  is
43              specified,  and  play  it  back. If the tool is called under the
44              name pacat this is the default.
45
46       -v | --verbose
47              Enable verbose operation. Dumps the  current  playback  time  to
48              STDERR during playback/capturing.
49
50       -s | --server=SERVER
51              Choose the server to connect to.
52
53       -d | --device=SINKORSOURCE
54              Specify the symbolic name of the sink/source to play/record this
55              stream on/from.
56
57       --monitor-stream=INDEX
58              Record from the sink input with index INDEX.
59
60       -n | --client-name=NAME
61              Specify the client name paplay shall pass  to  the  server  when
62              connecting.
63
64       --stream-name=NAME
65              Specify  the  stream  name  paplay shall pass to the server when
66              creating the stream.
67
68       --volume=VOLUME
69              Specify the initial playback  volume  to  use.  Choose  a  value
70              between 0 (silent) and 65536 (100% volume).
71
72       --rate=SAMPLERATE
73              Capture  or  play  back  audio  with  the specified sample rate.
74              Defaults to 44100 Hz.
75
76       --format=FORMAT
77              Capture or play back audio with  the  specified  sample  format.
78              Specify  one  of  u8,  s16le,  s16be,  s32le,  s32be, float32le,
79              float32be, ulaw, alaw, s32le,  s32be,  s24le,  s24be,  s24-32le,
80              s24-32be.  Depending  on  the  endianness of the CPU the formats
81              s16ne, s16re, s32ne, s32re, float32ne, float32re, s32ne,  s32re,
82              s24ne,  s24re,  s24-32ne,  s24-32re  (for  native, resp. reverse
83              endian) are available as aliases. Defaults to s16ne.
84
85       --channels=CHANNELS
86              Capture or play back audio with the specified  number  of  chan‐
87              nels.  If  more  than two channels are used it is recommended to
88              use the --channel-map option below. Defaults to 2.
89
90       --channel-map=CHANNELMAP
91              Explicitly choose a channel map when playing back  this  stream.
92              The  argument should be a comma separated list of channel names:
93              front-left, front-right, mono,  front-center,  rear-left,  rear-
94              right,  rear-center,  lfe, front-left-of-center, front-right-of-
95              center,  side-left,  side-right,  top-center,  top-front-center,
96              top-front-left,  top-front-right, top-rear-left, top-rear-right,
97              top-rear-center, or any of the 32 auxiliary channel  names  aux0
98              to aux31.
99
100       --fix-format
101              If  passed,  the  sample  format of the stream is changed to the
102              native format of the sink the stream is connected to.
103
104       --fix-rate
105              If passed, the sampling rate of the stream  is  changed  to  the
106              native rate of the sink the stream is connected to.
107
108       --fix-channels
109              If  passed,  the  number  of channels and the channel map of the
110              stream is changed to the  native  number  of  channels  and  the
111              native channel map of the sink the stream is connected to.
112
113       --no-remix
114              Never upmix or downmix channels.
115
116       --no-remap
117              Never  remap channels. Instead of mapping channels by their name
118              this will match them solely by their index/order.
119
120       --latency=BYTES
121              Explicitly configure the latency, with a time specified in bytes
122              in  the selected sample format. If left out the server will pick
123              the latency, usually relatively high for power  saving  reasons.
124              Use either this option or --latency-msec, but not both.
125
126       --latency-msec=MSEC
127              Explicitly  configure the latency, with a time specified in mil‐
128              liseconds. If left out the server will pick the latency, usually
129              relatively high for power saving reasons. Use either this option
130              or --latency, but not both.
131
132       --process-time=BYTES
133              Explicitly configure the process time, with a time specified  in
134              bytes in the selected sample format. If left out the server will
135              pick the process time. Use either this option or --process-time-
136              msec, but not both.
137
138       --process-time-msec=MSEC
139              Explicitly  configure the process time, with a time specified in
140              miliseconds. If left out the server will pick the process  time.
141              Use either this option or --process-time, but not both.
142
143       --property=PROPERTY=VALUE
144              Attach a property to the client and stream. May be used multiple
145              times
146
147       --raw  Play/record raw audio data. This is the default if this  program
148              is invoked as pacat , parec or pamon
149
150       --file-format[=FFORMAT]
151              Play/record  encoded  audio  data  in the file format specified.
152              This is the default if this program is  invoked  as  paplay  and
153              parecord
154
155       --list-file-formats
156              List supported file formats.
157

LIMITATIONS

159       Due  to a limitation in libsndfile paplay currently does not always set
160       the correct channel mapping for playback  of  multichannel  (i.e.  sur‐
161       round)  audio  files, even if the channel mapping information is avail‐
162       able in the audio file.
163

AUTHORS

165       The  PulseAudio  Developers  <pulseaudio-discuss   (at)   lists   (dot)
166       freedesktop  (dot)  org>;  PulseAudio is available from http://pulseau
167       dio.org/
168

SEE ALSO

170       pulseaudio(1), pactl(1)
171
172
173
174Manuals                              User                             pacat(1)
Impressum