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

Provided by: pulseaudio-utils_8.0-0ubuntu3.15_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