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. See
78              https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/Documenta
79              tion/User/SupportedAudioFormats/ for supported values.  Defaults
80              to s16ne.
81
82       --channels=CHANNELS
83              Capture  or  play  back audio with the specified number of chan‐
84              nels. If more than two channels are used it  is  recommended  to
85              use the --channel-map option below. Defaults to 2.
86
87       --channel-map=CHANNELMAP
88              Explicitly  choose  a channel map when playing back this stream.
89              The argument should be a comma separated list of channel  names:
90              front-left,  front-right,  mono,  front-center, rear-left, rear-
91              right, rear-center, lfe,  front-left-of-center,  front-right-of-
92              center,  side-left,  side-right,  top-center,  top-front-center,
93              top-front-left, top-front-right, top-rear-left,  top-rear-right,
94              top-rear-center,  or  any of the 32 auxiliary channel names aux0
95              to aux31.
96
97       --fix-format
98              If passed, the sample format of the stream  is  changed  to  the
99              native format of the sink the stream is connected to.
100
101       --fix-rate
102              If  passed,  the  sampling  rate of the stream is changed to the
103              native rate of the sink the stream is connected to.
104
105       --fix-channels
106              If passed, the number of channels and the  channel  map  of  the
107              stream  is  changed  to  the  native  number of channels and the
108              native channel map of the sink the stream is connected to.
109
110       --no-remix
111              Never upmix or downmix channels.
112
113       --no-remap
114              Never remap channels. Instead of mapping channels by their  name
115              this will match them solely by their index/order.
116
117       --latency=BYTES
118              Explicitly configure the latency, with a time specified in bytes
119              in the selected sample format. If left out the server will  pick
120              the  latency,  usually relatively high for power saving reasons.
121              Use either this option or --latency-msec, but not both.
122
123       --latency-msec=MSEC
124              Explicitly configure the latency, with a time specified in  mil‐
125              liseconds. If left out the server will pick the latency, usually
126              relatively high for power saving reasons. Use either this option
127              or --latency, but not both.
128
129       --process-time=BYTES
130              Explicitly  configure the process time, with a time specified in
131              bytes in the selected sample format. If left out the server will
132              pick the process time. Use either this option or --process-time-
133              msec, but not both.
134
135       --process-time-msec=MSEC
136              Explicitly configure the process time, with a time specified  in
137              miliseconds.  If left out the server will pick the process time.
138              Use either this option or --process-time, but not both.
139
140       --property=PROPERTY=VALUE
141              Attach a property to the client and stream. May be used multiple
142              times
143
144       --raw  Play/record  raw audio data. This is the default if this program
145              is invoked as pacat, parec or pamon.
146
147       --file-format[=FFORMAT]
148              Play/record encoded audio data in  the  file  format  specified.
149              This  is  the  default  if this program is invoked as paplay and
150              parecord.
151
152       --list-file-formats
153              List supported file formats.
154

LIMITATIONS

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

AUTHORS

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

SEE ALSO

167       pulseaudio(1), pactl(1)
168
169
170
171Manuals                              User                             pacat(1)
Impressum