Provided by: pipewire-bin_1.0.5-1ubuntu3_amd64 
NAME
pipewire.conf - pipewire.conf
DESCRIPTION
The PipeWire server configuration file
SYNOPSIS
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/pipewire/pipewire.conf
/etc/pipewire/pipewire.conf
/usr/share/pipewire/pipewire.conf
/usr/share/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d/
/etc/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d/
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d/
DESCRIPTION
PipeWire is a service that facilitates sharing of multimedia content between devices and applications.
On startup, the daemon reads a main configuration file to configure itself. It executes a series of
commands listed in the config file.
The config file is looked up in the order listed in the SYNOPSIS. The environment variables
PIPEWIRE_CONFIG_DIR, PIPEWIRE_CONFIG_PREFIX and PIPEWIRE_CONFIG_NAME can be used to specify an
alternative config directory, subdirectory and file respectively.
Other PipeWire configuration files generally follow the same lookup logic, replacing pipewire.conf with
the name of the particular config file.
DROP-IN CONFIGURATION FILES
All *.conf files in the pipewire.conf.d/ directories are loaded and merged into the configuration.
Dictionary sections are merged, overriding properties if they already existed, and array sections are
appended to. The drop-in files have same format as the main configuration file, but only contain the
settings to be modified.
As the pipewire.conf configuration file contains various parts that must be present for correct
functioning, using drop-in files for configuration is recommended.
Example
A configuration file ~/.config/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d/custom.conf to change the value of the
default.clock.min-quantum setting in pipewire.conf:
context.properties = {
default.clock.min-quantum = 128
}
CONFIGURATION FILE FORMAT
The configuration file is in 'SPA' JSON format.
The configuration file contains top-level keys, which are the sections. The value of a section is either
a dictionary, { }, or an array, [ ]. Section and dictionary item declarations have KEY = VALUE form, and
are separated by whitespace. For example:
context.properties = { # top-level dictionary section
key1 = value # a simple value
key2 = { key1 = value1 key2 = value2 } # a dictionary with two entries
key3 = [ value1 value2 ] # an array with two entries
key4 = [ { k = v1 } { k = v2 } ] # an array of dictionaries
}
context.modules = [ # top-level array section
value1
value2
]
The configuration files can also be written in standard JSON syntax, but for easier manual editing, the
relaxed 'SPA' variant is allowed. In 'SPA' JSON:
• : to delimit keys and values can be substituted by = or a space.
• " around keys and string can be omitted as long as no special characters are used in the strings.
• , to separate objects can be replaced with a whitespace character.
• # can be used to start a comment until the line end
CONFIGURATION FILE SECTIONS
context.properties
Dictionary. These properties configure the PipeWire instance.
context.spa-libs
Dictionary. Maps plugin features with globs to a spa library.
context.modules
Array of dictionaries. Each entry in the array is a dictionary with the name of the module to load,
including optional args and flags. Most modules support being loaded multiple times.
context.objects
Array of dictionaries. Each entry in the array is a dictionary containing the factory to create an
object from and optional extra arguments specific to that factory.
context.exec
Array of dictionaries. Each entry in the array is dictionary containing the path of a program to
execute on startup and optional args.
This array used to contain an entry to start the session manager but this mode of operation has since
been demoted to development aid. Avoid starting a session manager in this way in production
environment.
node.rules
Array of dictionaries. Match rules for modifying node properties on the server.
device.rules
Array of dictionaries. Match rules for modifying device properties on the server.
CONTEXT PROPERTIES
Available PipeWire properties in context.properties and possible default values.
clock.power-of-two-quantum = true
The quantum requests from the clients and the final graph quantum are rounded down to a power of two.
A power of two quantum can be more efficient for many processing tasks.
context.data-loop.library.name.system
The name of the shared library to use for the system functions for the data processing thread. This
can typically be changed if the data thread is running on a realtime kernel such as EVL.
core.daemon = false
Makes the PipeWire process, started with this config, a daemon process. This means that it will
manage and schedule a graph for clients. You would also want to configure a core.name to give it a
well known name.
core.name = pipewire-0
The name of the PipeWire context. This will also be the name of the PipeWire socket clients can
connect to.
cpu.zero.denormals = false
Configures the CPU to zero denormals automatically. This will be enabled for the data processing
thread only, when enabled.
default.clock.rate = 48000
The default clock rate determines the real time duration of the min/max/default quantums. You might
want to change the quantums when you change the default clock rate to maintain the same duration for
the quantums.
default.clock.allowed-rates = [ ]
It is possible to specify up to 32 alternative sample rates. The graph sample rate will be switched
when devices are idle. Note that this is not enabled by default for now because of various kernel and
Bluetooth issues. Note that the min/max/default quantum values are scaled when the samplerate
changes.
default.clock.min-quantum = 32
Default minimum quantum.
default.clock.max-quantum = 8192
Default maximum quantum.
default.clock.quantum = 1024
Default quantum used when no client specifies one.
default.clock.quantum-limit = 8192
Maximum quantum to reserve space for. This is the maximum buffer size used in the graph, regardless
of the samplerate.
default.clock.quantum-floor = 4
Minimum quantum to reserve space for. This is the minimum buffer size used in the graph, regardless
of the samplerate.
default.video.width
Default video width
default.video.height
Default video height
default.video.rate.num
Default video rate numerator
default.video.rate.denom
Default video rate denominator
library.name.system = support/libspa-support
The name of the shared library to use for the system functions for the main thread.
link.max-buffers = 64
The maximum number of buffers to negotiate between nodes. Note that version < 3 clients can only
support 16 buffers. More buffers is almost always worse than less, latency and memory wise.
log.level = 2
The default log level used by the process.
mem.allow-mlock = true
Try to mlock the memory for the realtime processes. Locked memory will not be swapped out by the
kernel and avoid hickups in the processing threads.
mem.warn-mlock = false
Warn about failures to lock memory.
mem.mlock-all = false
Try to mlock all current and future memory by the process.
settings.check-quantum = false
Check if the quantum in the settings metadata update is compatible with the configured limits.
settings.check-rate = false
Check if the rate in the settings metadata update is compatible with the configured limits.
support.dbus = true
Enable DBus support. This will enable DBus support in the various modules that require it. Disable
this if you want to globally disable DBus support in the process.
vm.overrides = { default.clock.min-quantum = 1024 }
Any property in the vm.overrides property object will override the property in the context.properties
when PipeWire detects it is running in a VM.
context.modules.allow-empty = false
By default, a warning is logged when there are no context.modules loaded because this likely
indicates there is a problem. Some applications might load the modules themselves and when they set
this property to true, no warning will be logged.
The context properties may also contain custom values. For example, the context.modules and
context.objects sections can declare additional conditions that control whether a module or object is
loaded depending on what properties are present.
SPA LIBRARIES
SPA plugins are loaded based on their factory-name. This is a well known name that uniquely describes the
features that the plugin should have. The context.spa-libs section provides a mapping between the
factory-name and the plugin where the factory can be found.
Factory names can contain a wildcard to group several related factories into one plugin. The plugin is
loaded from the first matching factory-name.
Example
context.spa-libs = {
audio.convert.* = audioconvert/libspa-audioconvert
avb.* = avb/libspa-avb
api.alsa.* = alsa/libspa-alsa
api.v4l2.* = v4l2/libspa-v4l2
api.libcamera.* = libcamera/libspa-libcamera
api.bluez5.* = bluez5/libspa-bluez5
api.vulkan.* = vulkan/libspa-vulkan
api.jack.* = jack/libspa-jack
support.* = support/libspa-support
video.convert.* = videoconvert/libspa-videoconvert
}
MODULES
PipeWire modules to be loaded. See libpipewire-modules(7).
context.modules = [
#{ name = MODULENAME
# ( args = { KEY = VALUE ... } )
# ( flags = [ ( ifexists ) ( nofail ) ] )
# ( condition = [ { KEY = VALUE ... } ... ] )
#}
#
]
name
Name of module to be loaded
args = { }
Arguments passed to the module
flags = [ ]
Loading flags. ifexists to only load module if it exists, and nofail to not fail PipeWire startup if
the module fails to load.
condition = [ ]
A match rule matches condition. The module is loaded only if one of the expressions in the array
matches to a context property.
CONTEXT OBJECTS
The context.objects section allows you to make some objects from factories (usually created by loading
modules in context.modules).
context.objects = [
#{ factory = <factory-name>
# ( args = { <key> = <value> ... } )
# ( flags = [ ( nofail ) ] )
# ( condition = [ { <key> = <value> ... } ... ] )
#}
]
This section can be used to make nodes or links between nodes.
factory
Name of the factory to create the object.
args = { }
Arguments passed to the factory.
flags = [ ]
Flag nofail to not fail PipeWire startup if the object fails to load.
condition = [ ]
A match rule matches condition. The object is created only if one of the expressions in the array
matches to a context property.
Example
This fragment creates a new dummy driver node, but only if core.daemon property is true:
context.objects = [
{ factory = spa-node-factory
args = {
factory.name = support.node.driver
node.name = Dummy-Driver
node.group = pipewire.dummy
priority.driver = 20000
},
condition = [ { core.daemon = true } ]
}
]
COMMAND EXECUTION
The context.exec section can be used to start arbitrary commands as part of the initialization of the
PipeWire program.
context.exec = [
#{ path = <program-name>
# ( args = "<arguments>" )
# ( condition = [ { <key> = <value> ... } ... ] )
#}
]
path
Program to execute.
args
Arguments to the program.
condition
A match rule matches condition. The object is created only if one of the expressions in the array
matches to a context property.
Example
The following fragment executes a pactl command with the given arguments:
context.exec = [
{ path = "pactl" args = "load-module module-always-sink" }
]
MATCH RULES
Some configuration file sections contain match rules. This makes it possible to perform some action when
an object (usually a node or stream) is created/updated that matches certain properties.
The general rules object follows the following pattern:
<rules> = [
{
matches = [
# any of the following sets of properties are matched, if
# any matches, the actions are executed
{
# <key> = <value>
# all keys must match the value. ! negates. ~ starts regex.
#application.process.binary = "teams"
#application.name = "~speech-dispatcher.*"
# Absence of property can be tested by comparing to null
#pipewire.sec.flatpak = null
}
{
# more matches here...
}
...
]
actions = {
<action-name> = <action value>
...
}
}
]
The rules is an array of things to match and what actions to perform when a match is found.
The available actions and their values depend on the specific rule that is used. Usually it is possible
to update some properties or set some quirks on the object.
AUTHORS
The PipeWire Developers <https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire/issues>; PipeWire is available
from <https://pipewire.org>
SEE ALSO
pipewire(1), pw-mon(1), libpipewire-modules(7) pipewire-pulse.conf(5) pipewire-client.conf(5)