pacat(1)						      General Commands Manual							  pacat(1)

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.

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.

       -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-cen-
	      ter, 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 chan-
	      nel 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 miliseconds. If left out the server will pick the latency, usually  rela-
	      tively 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.

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)

Manuals 							       User								  pacat(1)