pacat(1) General Commands Manual pacat(1)
NAME
pacat - Play back or record raw or encoded audio streams on a PulseAudio
sound server
SYNOPSIS
paplay [options] [FILE]
parecord [options] [FILE]
pacat [options] [FILE]
parec [options] [FILE]
pamon [options] [FILE]
pacat --help
pacat --version
DESCRIPTION
pacat is a simple tool for playing back or capturing raw or encoded au-
dio files on a PulseAudio sound server. It understands all audio file
formats supported by libsndfile.
OPTIONS
-h | --help
Show help.
--version
Show version information.
-r | --record
Capture audio data and write it to the specified file or to STD-
OUT 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 spec-
ified, 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 con-
necting.
--stream-name=NAME
Specify the stream name paplay shall pass to the server when cre-
ating the stream.
--volume=VOLUME
Specify the initial playback volume to use. Choose a value be-
tween 0 (silent) and 65536 (100% volume).
--rate=SAMPLERATE
Capture or play back audio with the specified sample rate. De-
faults to 44100 Hz.
--format=FORMAT
Capture or play back audio with the specified sample format. See
https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/Documenta-
tion/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 na-
tive format of the sink the stream is connected to.
--fix-rate
If passed, the sampling rate of the stream is changed to the na-
tive 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 mil-
liseconds. 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.
LIMITATIONS
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.
AUTHORS
The PulseAudio Developers <pulseaudio-discuss (at) lists (dot) freedesk-
top (dot) org>; PulseAudio is available from http://pulseaudio.org/
SEE ALSO
pulseaudio(1), pactl(1)
Manuals User pacat(1)
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