aplay

APLAY(1)                                                              APLAY(1)



NAME
       arecord, aplay - command-line sound recorder and player for ALSA sound‐
       card driver

SYNOPSIS
       arecord [flags] [filename]
       aplay [flags] [filename [filename]] ...


DESCRIPTION
       arecord is a command-line soundfile recorder  for  the  ALSA  soundcard
       driver.  It  supports several file formats and multiple soundcards with
       multiple devices. If recording with interleaved mode samples  the  file
       is automatically split before the 2GB filesize.

       aplay  is  much  the same, only it plays instead of recording. For sup‐
       ported soundfile formats, the sampling rate, bit depth,  and  so  forth
       can be automatically determined from the soundfile header.

       If filename is not specified, the standard output or input is used. The
       aplay utility accepts multiple filenames.


OPTIONS
       -h, --help
              Help: show syntax.

       --version
              Print current version.

       -l, --list-devices
              List all soundcards and digital audio devices

       -L, --list-pcms
              List all PCMs defined

       -D, --device=NAME
              Select PCM by name

       -q --quiet
              Quiet mode. Suppress messages (not sound :))

       -t, --file-type TYPE
              File type (voc, wav, raw or au).  If this parameter  is  omitted
              the WAVE format is used.

       -c, --channels=#
              The number of channels.  The default is one channel.

       -f --format=FORMAT
              Sample format
              Recognized sample formats are: S8 U8 S16_LE S16_BE U16_LE U16_BE
              S24_LE S24_BE U24_LE U24_BE S32_LE S32_BE U32_LE U32_BE FLOAT_LE
              FLOAT_BE  FLOAT64_LE  FLOAT64_BE  IEC958_SUBFRAME_LE IEC958_SUB‐
              FRAME_BE MU_LAW A_LAW IMA_ADPCM MPEG GSM
              Some of these may not be available on selected hardware
              There are also two format shortcuts available:
              -f cd (16 bit little endian, 44100, stereo [-f S16_LE -c2 -r44100]
              -f dat (16 bit little endian, 48000, stereo) [-f S16_LE -c2 -r48000]
              If no format is given U8 is used.

       -r, --rate=#
              Sampling rate in Hertz. The default rate is 8000 Hertz.

       -d, --duration=#
              Interrupt after # seconds.  A value of zero means infinity.  The
              default  is  zero, so if this option is omitted then the arecord
              process will run until it is killed.

       -s, --sleep-min=#
              Min ticks to sleep. The default is not to sleep.

       -M, --mmap
              Use memory-mapped (mmap) I/O mode for the audio stream.  If this
              option is not set, the read/write I/O mode will be used.

       -N, --nonblock
              Open  the  audio  device  in non-blocking mode. If the device is
              busy the program will exit immediately.  If this option  is  not
              set  the  program will block until the audio device is available
              again.

       -F, --period-time=#
              Distance between interrupts is #  microseconds.   If  no  period
              time  and  no  period size is given then a quarter of the buffer
              time is set.

       -B, --buffer-time=#
              Buffer duration is # microseconds If no buffer time and no  buf‐
              fer  size  is given then the maximal allowed buffer time but not
              more than 500ms is set.

       --period-size=#
              Distance between interrupts is # frames If no period size and no
              period time is given then a quarter of the buffer size is set.

       --buffer-size=#
              Buffer duration is # frames If no buffer time and no buffer size
              is given then the maximal allowed buffer time but not more  than
              500ms is set.

       -A, --avail-min=#
              Min available space for wakeup is # microseconds

       -R, --start-delay=#
              Delay  for  automatic  PCM  start is # microseconds (relative to
              buffer size if <= 0)

       -T, --stop-delay=#
              Delay for automatic PCM stop is # microseconds from xrun

       -v, --verbose
              Show PCM structure and setup.  This option is accumulative.  The
              VU meter is displayed when this is given twice or three times.

       -V, --vumeter=TYPE
              Specifies  the VU-meter type, either stereo or mono.  The stereo
              VU-meter is available only for  2-channel  stereo  samples  with
              interleaved format.

       -I, --separate-channels
              One file for each channel


   Example:
       aplay -c 1 -t raw -r 22050 -f mu_law foobar
              will  play the raw file "foobar" as a 22050-Hz, mono, 8-bit, Mu-
              Law .au file.


       arecord -d 10 -f cd -t wav -D copy foobar.wav
              will record foobar.wav as a  10-second,  CD-quality  wave  file,
              using  the  PCM  "copy"  (which  might  be defined in the user's
              .asoundrc file as:
              pcm.copy {
                type plug
                slave {
                  pcm hw
                }
                route_policy copy
              }


SEE ALSO
        alsamixer(1), amixer(1)


BUGS
       Note that .aiff files are not currently supported.


AUTHOR
       arecord and aplay are by Jaroslav Kysela  This document
       is by Paul Winkler .  Updated for Alsa 0.9 by James
       Tappin 




                                 2 August 2001                        APLAY(1)