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

       The PulseAudio Developers <pulseaudio-discuss (at) lists  (dot)  freedesktop  (dot)  org>;
       PulseAudio is available from http://pulseaudio.org/

SEE ALSO

       pulseaudio(1), pactl(1)