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1<?xml version="1.0"?><!--*-nxml-*-->
2<!DOCTYPE manpage SYSTEM "xmltoman.dtd">
3<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="xmltoman.xsl" ?>
4
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8PulseAudio is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
9under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as
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13PulseAudio is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
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15or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser General
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21
22<manpage name="pacat" section="1" desc="Play back or record raw or encoded audio streams on a PulseAudio sound server">
23
24  <synopsis>
25    <cmd>paplay [<arg>options</arg>] [<arg>FILE</arg>]</cmd>
26    <cmd>parecord [<arg>options</arg>] [<arg>FILE</arg>]</cmd>
27    <cmd>pacat [<arg>options</arg>] [<arg>FILE</arg>]</cmd>
28    <cmd>parec [<arg>options</arg>] [<arg>FILE</arg>]</cmd>
29    <cmd>pamon [<arg>options</arg>] [<arg>FILE</arg>]</cmd>
30    <cmd>pacat <opt>--help</opt></cmd>
31    <cmd>pacat <opt>--version</opt></cmd>
32  </synopsis>
33
34  <description>
35    <p><file>pacat</file> is a simple tool for playing back or
36    capturing raw or encoded audio files on a PulseAudio sound
37    server. It understands all audio file formats supported by
38    <file>libsndfile</file>.</p>
39  </description>
40
41  <options>
42
43    <option>
44      <p><opt>-h | --help</opt></p>
45
46      <optdesc><p>Show help.</p></optdesc>
47    </option>
48
49    <option>
50      <p><opt>--version</opt></p>
51
52      <optdesc><p>Show version information.</p></optdesc>
53    </option>
54
55    <option>
56      <p><opt>-r | --record</opt></p>
57
58      <optdesc><p>Capture audio data and write it to the specified file or to STDOUT if none is specified. If the tool is called under the name <file>parec</file> this is the default.</p></optdesc>
59    </option>
60
61    <option>
62      <p><opt>-p | --playback</opt></p>
63
64      <optdesc><p>Read audio data from the specified file or STDIN if none is specified, and play it back. If the tool is called under the name <file>pacat</file> this is the default.</p></optdesc>
65    </option>
66
67    <option>
68      <p><opt>-v | --verbose</opt></p>
69
70      <optdesc><p>Enable verbose operation. Dumps the current playback time to STDERR during playback/capturing.</p></optdesc>
71    </option>
72
73    <option>
74      <p><opt>-s | --server</opt><arg>=SERVER</arg></p>
75
76      <optdesc><p>Choose the server to connect to.</p></optdesc>
77    </option>
78
79    <option>
80      <p><opt>-d | --device</opt><arg>=SINKORSOURCE</arg></p>
81
82      <optdesc><p>Specify the symbolic name of the sink/source to play/record this stream on/from. The special names @DEFAULT_SINK@, @DEFAULT_SOURCE@ and @DEFAULT_MONITOR@ can be used to specify the default sink, source and monitor respectively.</p></optdesc>
83    </option>
84
85    <option>
86      <p><opt>--monitor-stream</opt><arg>=INDEX</arg></p>
87
88      <optdesc><p>Record from the sink input with index INDEX.</p></optdesc>
89    </option>
90
91    <option>
92      <p><opt>-n | --client-name</opt><arg>=NAME</arg></p>
93
94      <optdesc><p>Specify the client name <file>paplay</file> shall pass to the server when connecting.</p></optdesc>
95    </option>
96
97    <option>
98      <p><opt>--stream-name</opt><arg>=NAME</arg></p>
99
100      <optdesc><p>Specify the stream name <file>paplay</file> shall pass to the server when creating the stream.</p></optdesc>
101    </option>
102
103    <option>
104      <p><opt>--volume</opt><arg>=VOLUME</arg></p>
105
106      <optdesc><p>Specify the initial playback volume to use. Choose a value between 0 (silent) and 65536 (100% volume).</p></optdesc>
107    </option>
108
109    <option>
110      <p><opt>--rate</opt><arg>=SAMPLERATE</arg></p>
111
112      <optdesc><p>Capture or play back audio with the specified sample rate. Defaults to 44100 Hz.</p></optdesc>
113    </option>
114
115    <option>
116      <p><opt>--format</opt><arg>=FORMAT</arg></p>
117
118      <optdesc><p>Capture or play back audio with the specified sample
119      format. See
120      https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/Documentation/User/SupportedAudioFormats/
121      for supported values. Defaults to s16ne.</p></optdesc>
122    </option>
123
124    <option>
125      <p><opt>--channels</opt><arg>=CHANNELS</arg></p>
126
127      <optdesc><p>Capture or play back audio with the specified number
128      of channels. If more than two channels are used it is
129      recommended to use the <opt>--channel-map</opt> option
130      below. Defaults to 2.</p></optdesc>
131    </option>
132
133    <option>
134      <p><opt>--channel-map</opt><arg>=CHANNELMAP</arg></p>
135
136      <optdesc><p>Explicitly choose a channel map when playing back
137      this stream. The argument should be a comma separated list of
138      channel names: <opt>front-left</opt>, <opt>front-right</opt>,
139      <opt>mono</opt>, <opt>front-center</opt>, <opt>rear-left</opt>,
140      <opt>rear-right</opt>, <opt>rear-center</opt>, <opt>lfe</opt>,
141      <opt>front-left-of-center</opt>,
142      <opt>front-right-of-center</opt>, <opt>side-left</opt>,
143      <opt>side-right</opt>, <opt>top-center</opt>,
144      <opt>top-front-center</opt>, <opt>top-front-left</opt>,
145      <opt>top-front-right</opt>, <opt>top-rear-left</opt>,
146      <opt>top-rear-right</opt>, <opt>top-rear-center</opt>, or any of
147      the 32 auxiliary channel names <opt>aux0</opt> to
148      <opt>aux31</opt>.</p></optdesc>
149    </option>
150
151    <option>
152      <p><opt>--fix-format</opt></p>
153      <optdesc><p>If passed, the sample format of the stream is changed to the native format of the sink the stream is connected to.</p></optdesc>
154    </option>
155
156    <option>
157      <p><opt>--fix-rate</opt></p>
158      <optdesc><p>If passed, the sampling rate of the stream is changed to the native rate of the sink the stream is connected to.</p></optdesc>
159    </option>
160
161    <option>
162      <p><opt>--fix-channels</opt></p>
163      <optdesc><p>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.</p></optdesc>
164    </option>
165
166    <option>
167      <p><opt>--no-remix</opt></p>
168      <optdesc><p>Never upmix or downmix channels.</p></optdesc>
169    </option>
170
171    <option>
172      <p><opt>--no-remap</opt></p>
173      <optdesc><p>Never remap channels. Instead of mapping channels by their name this will match them solely by their index/order.</p></optdesc>
174    </option>
175
176    <option>
177      <p><opt>--latency</opt><arg>=BYTES</arg></p>
178      <optdesc><p>Explicitly configure the latency, with a time
179      specified in bytes in the selected sample format. If left out
180      the server will pick the latency, usually relatively high for
181      power saving reasons. Use either this option or
182      <opt>--latency-msec</opt>, but not both.</p></optdesc>
183    </option>
184
185    <option>
186      <p><opt>--latency-msec</opt><arg>=MSEC</arg></p>
187      <optdesc><p>Explicitly configure the latency, with a time
188      specified in milliseconds. If left out the server will pick the
189      latency, usually relatively high for power saving reasons. Use
190      either this option or <opt>--latency</opt>, but not
191      both.</p></optdesc>
192    </option>
193
194    <option>
195      <p><opt>--process-time</opt><arg>=BYTES</arg></p>
196      <optdesc><p>Explicitly configure the process time, with a time
197      specified in bytes in the selected sample format. If left out
198      the server will pick the process time. Use either this option or
199      <opt>--process-time-msec</opt>, but not both.</p></optdesc>
200    </option>
201
202    <option>
203      <p><opt>--process-time-msec</opt><arg>=MSEC</arg></p>
204      <optdesc><p>Explicitly configure the process time, with a time
205      specified in milliseconds. If left out the server will pick the
206      process time. Use either this option or <opt>--process-time</opt>,
207      but not both.</p></optdesc>
208    </option>
209
210    <option>
211      <p><opt>--property</opt><arg>=PROPERTY=VALUE</arg></p>
212      <optdesc><p>Attach a property to the client and stream. May be
213      used multiple times</p></optdesc>
214    </option>
215
216    <option>
217      <p><opt>--raw</opt></p>
218      <optdesc><p>Play/record raw audio data. This is the default if
219      this program is invoked as <file>pacat</file>, <file>parec</file> or
220      <file>pamon</file>.</p></optdesc>
221    </option>
222
223    <option>
224      <p><opt>--file-format</opt><arg>[=FFORMAT]</arg></p>
225      <optdesc><p>Play/record encoded audio data in the file format
226      specified. This is the default if this program is invoked as
227      <file>paplay</file> and <file>parecord</file>.</p></optdesc>
228    </option>
229
230    <option>
231      <p><opt>--list-file-formats</opt></p>
232      <optdesc><p>List supported file formats.</p></optdesc>
233    </option>
234
235  </options>
236
237  <section name="Limitations">
238    <p>Due to a limitation in <file>libsndfile</file>
239    <file>paplay</file> currently does not always set the correct channel
240    mapping for playback of multichannel (i.e. surround) audio files, even
241    if the channel mapping information is available in the audio file.</p>
242  </section>
243
244  <section name="Authors">
245    <p>The PulseAudio Developers &lt;@PACKAGE_BUGREPORT@&gt;; PulseAudio is available from <url href="@PACKAGE_URL@"/></p>
246  </section>
247
248  <section name="See also">
249    <p>
250      <manref name="pulseaudio" section="1"/>, <manref name="pactl" section="1"/>
251    </p>
252  </section>
253
254</manpage>
255