1pulse-daemon.conf(5) File Formats Manual pulse-daemon.conf(5)
2
6 pulse-daemon.conf - PulseAudio daemon configuration file
7
9 ~/.pulse/daemon.conf
10 /etc/pulse/daemon.conf
12
14 The PulseAudio sound server reads configuration directives from a file
15 ~/.pulse/daemon.conf on startup and when that file doesn't exist from
16 /etc/pulse/daemon.conf. Please note that the server also reads a con‐
17 figuration script on startup default.pa which also contains runtime
18 configuration directives.
19 The configuration file is a simple collection of variable declarations.
21 If the configuration file parser encounters either ; or # it ignores
22 the rest of the line until its end.
23 For the settings that take a boolean argument the values true, yes, on
25 and 1 are equivalent, resp. false, no, off, 0.
26
28 daemonize= Daemonize after startup. Takes a boolean value, defaults to
29 "no". The --daemonize command line option takes precedence.
30 fail= Fail to start up if any of the directives in the configuration
32 script default.pa fail. Takes a boolean argument, defaults to "yes".
33 The --fail command line option takes precedence.
34 allow-module-loading= Allow/disallow module loading after startup. This
36 is a security feature that if dsabled makes sure that no further mod‐
37 ules may be loaded into the PulseAudio server after startup completed.
38 It is recommended to disable this when system-instance is enabled.
39 Please note that certain features like automatic hot-plug support will
40 not work if this option is enabled. Takes a boolean argument, defaults
41 to yes. The --disallow-module-loading command line option takes prece‐
42 dence.
43 allow-exit= Allow/disallow exit on user request. Defaults to yes.
45 resample-method= The resampling algorithm to use. Use one of src-sinc-
47 best-quality, src-sinc-medium-quality, src-sinc-fastest, src-zero-
48 order-hold, src-linear, trivial, speex-float-N, speex-fixed-N, ffmpeg.
49 See the documentation of libsamplerate for an explanation for the dif‐
50 ferent src- methods. The method trivial is the most basic algorithm
51 implemented. If you're tight on CPU consider using this. On the other
52 hand it has the worst quality of them all. The Speex resamplers take an
53 integer quality setting in the range 0..9 (bad...good). They exist in
54 two flavours: fixed and float. The former uses fixed point numbers, the
55 latter relies on floating point numbers. On most desktop CPUs the float
56 point resmampler is a lot faster, and it also offers slightly better
57 quality. See the output of dump-resample-methods for a complete list of
58 all available resamplers. Defaults to speex-float-3. The --resample-
59 method command line option takes precedence. Note that some modules
60 overwrite or allow overwriting of the resampler to use.
61 enable-remixing= If disabled never upmix or downmix channels to differ‐
63 ent channel maps. Instead, do a simple name-based matching only.
64 Defaults to yes.
65 enable-lfe-remixing= if disabeld when upmixing or downmixing ignore LFE
67 channels. When this option is dsabled the output LFE channel will only
68 get a signal when an input LFE channel is available as well. If no
69 input LFE channel is available the output LFE channel will always be 0.
70 If no output LFE channel is available the signal on the input LFE chan‐
71 nel will be ignored. Defaults to no.
72 use-pid-file= Create a PID file in /tmp/pulse-$USER/pid. Of this is
74 enabled you may use commands like --kill or --check. If you are plan‐
75 ning to start more than one PulseAudio process per user, you better
76 disable this option since it effectively disables multiple instances.
77 Takes a boolean argument, defaults to yes. The --no-cpu-limit command
78 line option takes precedence.
79 cpu-limit= If disabled do not install the CPU load limiter, even on
81 platforms where it is supported. This option is useful when debug‐
82 ging/profiling PulseAudio to disable disturbing SIGXCPU signals. Takes
83 a boolean argument, defaults to no. The --no-cpu-limit command line
84 argument takes precedence.
85 system-instance= Run the daemon as system-wide instance, requires root
87 priviliges. Takes a boolean argument, defaults to no. The --system com‐
88 mand line argument takes precedence.
89 enable-shm= Enable data transfer via POSIX shared memory. Takes a bool‐
91 ean argument, defaults to yes. The --disable-shm command line argument
92 takes precedence.
93 shm-size-bytes= Sets the shared memory segment size for the daemon, in
95 bytes. If left unspecified or is set to 0 it will default to some sys‐
96 tem-specific default, usually 64 MiB. Please note that usually there is
97 no need to change this value, unless you are running an OS kernel that
98 does not do memory overcommit.
99 lock-memory= Locks the entire PulseAudio process into memory. While
101 this might increase drop-out safety when used in conjunction with real-
102 time scheduling this takes away a lot of memory from other processes
103 and might hence considerably slow down your system. Defaults to no.
104 flat-volumes= Enable 'flat' volumes, i.e. where possible let the sink
106 volume equal the maximum of the volumes of the inputs connected to it.
107 Takes a boolean argument, defaults to yes.
108
110 high-priority= Renice the daemon after startup to become a high-prior‐
111 ity process. This a good idea if you experience drop-outs during play‐
112 back. However, this is a certain security issue, since it works when
113 called SUID root only, or RLIMIT_NICE is used. root is dropped immedi‐
114 ately after gaining the nice level on startup, thus it is presumably
115 safe. See pulseaudio(1) for more information. Takes a boolean argument,
116 defaults to "yes". The --high-priority command line option takes prece‐
117 dence.
118 realtime-scheduling= Try to acquire SCHED_FIFO scheduling for the IO
120 threads. The same security concerns as mentioned above apply. However,
121 if PA enters an endless loop, realtime scheduling causes a system
122 lockup. Thus, realtime scheduling should only be enabled on trusted
123 machines for now. Please not that only the IO threads of PulseAudio are
124 made real-time. The controlling thread is left a normally scheduled
125 thread. Thus enabling the high-priority option is orthogonal. See
126 pulseaudio(1) for more information. Takes a boolean argument, defaults
127 to "yes". The --realtime command line option takes precedence.
128 realtime-priority= The realtime priority to acquire, if realtime-sched‐
130 uling is enabled. Note: JACK uses 10 by default, 9 for clients. Thus it
131 is recommended to choose the PulseAudio real-time priorities lower.
132 Some PulseAudio threads might choose a priority a little lower or
133 higher than the specified value. Defaults to "5".
134 nice-level= The nice level to acquire for the daemon, if high-priority
136 is enabled. Note: on some distributions X11 uses -10 by default.
137 Defaults to -11.
138
140 exit-idle-time= Terminate the daemon after the last client quit and
141 this time in seconds passed. Use a negative value to disable this fea‐
142 ture. Defaults to 20. The --exit-idle-time command line option takes
143 precedence.
144 scache-idle-time= Unload autoloaded sample cache entries after being
146 idle for this time in seconds. Defaults to 20. The --scache-idle-time
147 command line option takes precedence.
148
150 dl-search-path= The path were to look for dynamic shared objects
151 (DSOs/plugins). You may specify more than one path seperated by colons.
152 The default path depends on compile time settings. The --dl-search-path
153 command line option takes precedence.
154 default-script-file= The default configuration script file to load.
156 Specify an empty string for not loading a default script file. The
157 default behaviour is to load ~/.pulse/default.pa, and if that file does
158 not exist fall back to the system wide installed version
159 /etc/pulse/default.pa. If run in system-wide mode the file
160 /etc/pulse/system.pa is used instead. If -n is passed on the command
161 line or default-script-file= is disabled the default configuration
162 script is ignored.
163 load-default-script-file= Load the default configuration script file as
165 specified in default-script-file=. Defaults to yes.
166
168 log-target= The default log target. Use either stderr, syslog or auto.
169 The latter is equivalent to sylog in case daemonize is enabled, other‐
170 wise to stderr. Defaults to auto. The --log-target command line option
171 takes precedence.
172 log-level= Log level, one of debug, info, notice, warning, error. Log
174 messages with a lower log level than specified here are not logged.
175 Defaults to notice. The --log-level command line option takes prece‐
176 dence. The -v command line option might alter this setting.
177 log-meta= With each logged message log the code location the message
179 was generated from. Defaults to no.
180 log-time= With each logged messages log the relative time since
182 startup. Defaults to no.
183 log-backtrace= When greater than 0, with each logged message log a code
185 stack trace up the the specified number of stack frames. Defaults to 0.
186
188 See getrlimit(2) for more information. Set to -1 if PulseAudio shall
189 not touch the resource limit. Not all resource limits are available on
190 all operating systems.
191 rlimit-as Defaults to -1.
193 rlimit-rss Defaults to -1.
195 rlimit-core Defaults to -1.
197 rlimit-data Defaults to -1.
199 rlimit-fsize Defaults to -1.
201 rlimit-nofile Defaults to 256.
203 rlimit-stack Defaults to -1.
205 rlimit-nproc Defaults to -1.
207 rlimit-locks Defaults to -1.
209 rlimit-sigpending Defaults to -1.
211 rlimit-msgqueue Defaults to -1.
213 rlimit-memlock Defaults to 16 KiB. Please note that the JACK client
215 libraries may require more locked memory.
216 rlimit-nice Defaults to 31. Please make sure that the default nice
218 level as configured with nice-level fits in this resource limit, if
219 high-priority is enabled.
220 rlimit-rtprio Defaults to 9. Please make sure that the default real-
222 time priority level as configured with realtime-priority= fits in this
223 resource limit, if realtime-scheduling is enabled. The JACK client
224 libraries require a real-time prority of 9 by default.
225 rlimit-rttime Defaults to 1000000.
227
229 Most drivers try to open the audio device with these settings and then
230 fall back to lower settings. The default settings are CD quality: 16bit
231 native endian, 2 channels, 44100 Hz sampling.
232 default-sample-format= The default sampling format. Specify one of u8,
234 s16le, s16be, s24le, s24be, s24-32le, s24-32be, s32le, s32be float32le,
235 float32be, ulaw, alaw. Depending on the endianess of the CPU the for‐
236 mats s16ne, s16re, s24ne, s24re, s24-32ne, s24-32re, s32ne, s32re,
237 float32ne, float32re (for native, resp. reverse endian) are available
238 as aliases.
239 default-sample-rate= The default sample frequency.
241 default-sample-channels The default number of channels.
243 default-channel-map The default channel map.
245
247 Some hardware drivers require the hardware playback buffer to be subdi‐
248 vided into several fragments. It is possible to change these buffer
249 metrics for machines with high scheduling latencies. Not all possible
250 values that may be configured here are available in all hardware. The
251 driver will to find the nearest setting supported. Modern drivers that
252 support timer-based scheduling ignore these options.
253 default-fragments= The default number of fragments. Defaults to 4.
255 default-fragment-size-msec=The duration of a single fragment. Defaults
257 to 25ms (i.e. the total buffer is thus 100ms long).
258
260 The PulseAudio Developers <mzchyfrnhqvb (at) 0pointer (dot) net>;
261 PulseAudio is available from http://pulseaudio.org/
262
264 pulse-client.conf(5), default.pa(5), pulseaudio(1), pacmd(1)
265Manuals User pulse-daemon.conf(5)