pacat

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: User
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NAME

pacat - Play back or record raw audio streams on a PulseAudio sound server

SYNOPSIS

pacat [options] [FILE]

parec [options] [FILE]

paplay --help

paplay --version

DESCRIPTION

pacat is a simple tool for playing back or capturing raw audio files on a PulseAudio sound server.

OPTIONS

-h | --help: Show help.
--version: Show version information.
-r | --record: Capture raw 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 raw 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.
-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. Depending on the endianess of the CPU the formats s16ne, s16re, s32ne, s32re, float32ne, float32re (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.

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