Ubuntu Manpage: pacat - Play back or record raw or encoded audio streams on a PulseAudio sound server

Provided by: pulseaudio-utils_13.99.1-1ubuntu3.13_amd64

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 audio 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 STDOUT 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 specified, 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.

--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 connecting.

--stream-name=NAME
Specify the stream name paplay shall pass to the server when creating the stream.

--volume=VOLUME
Specify the initial playback volume to use. Choose a value between 0 (silent) and 65536 (100%
volume).

--rate=SAMPLERATE
Capture or play back audio with the specified sample rate. Defaults to 44100 Hz.

--format=FORMAT
Capture or play back audio with the specified sample format. Specify one of u8, s16le, s16be,
s32le, s32be, float32le, float32be, ulaw, alaw, s32le, s32be, s24le, s24be, s24-32le, s24-32be.
Depending on the endianness of the CPU the formats s16ne, s16re, s32ne, s32re, float32ne,
float32re, s32ne, s32re, s24ne, s24re, s24-32ne, s24-32re (for native, resp. reverse endian) are
available as aliases. 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 native format of the sink the stream
is connected to.

--fix-rate
If passed, the sampling rate of the stream is changed to the native 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 milliseconds. 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 miliseconds. 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