pipewire/man/pw-cat.1.rst.in

pw-cat
######

-----------------------------------
Play and record media with PipeWire
-----------------------------------

:Manual section: 1
:Manual group: General Commands Manual

SYNOPSIS
========

| **pw-cat** [*options*] [*FILE* \| -]
| **pw-play** [*options*] [*FILE* \| -]
| **pw-record** [*options*] [*FILE* \| -]
| **pw-midiplay** [*options*] [*FILE* \| -]
| **pw-midirecord** [*options*] [*FILE* \| -]
| **pw-dsdplay** [*options*] [*FILE* \| -]

DESCRIPTION
===========

**pw-cat** is a simple tool for playing back or
capturing raw or encoded media files on a PipeWire
server. It understands all audio file formats supported by
``libsndfile`` for PCM capture and playback.

It understands standard MIDI files for playback and recording. This tool
will not render MIDI files, it will simply make the MIDI events available
to the graph. You need a MIDI renderer such as qsynth, timidity or a hardware
MIDI rendered to hear the MIDI.

DSD playback is supported with the DSF file format. This tool will only work
with native DSD capable hardware and will produce an error when no such
hardware was found.

When the *FILE* is - input and output will be from STDIN and
STDOUT respectively.

OPTIONS
=======

-h | --help
  Show help.

--version
  Show version information.

-v | --verbose
  Verbose operation.

-R | --remote=NAME
  The name the *remote* instance to connect to. If left unspecified,
  a connection is made to the default PipeWire instance.

-p | --playback
  Playback mode. Read data from the specified file, and play it back. If the tool
  is called under the name **pw-play** or **pw-midiplay** this is the default.

-r | --record
  Recording mode. Capture data and write it to the specified file. If the tool is
  called under the name **pw-record** or **pw-midirecord** this is the default.

-m | --midi
  MIDI mode. *FILE* is a MIDI file. If the tool is called under the name
  **pw-midiplay** or **pw-midirecord** this is the default.
  Note that this program will *not* render the MIDI events into audible samples,
  it will simply provide the MIDI events in the graph. You need a separate
  MIDI renderer such as qsynth, timidity or a hardware renderer to hear the MIDI.

-d | --dsd
  DSD mode. *FILE* is a DSF file. If the tool is called under the name
  **pw-dsdplay** this is the default.
  Note that this program will *not* render the DSD audio. You need a DSD capable
  device to play DSD content or this program will exit with an error.

--media-type=VALUE
  Set the media type property (default Audio/Midi depending on mode).
  The media type is used by the session manager to select a suitable target
  to link to.

--media-category=VALUE
  Set the media category property (default Playback/Capture depending on mode).
  The media type is used by the session manager to select a suitable target
  to link to.

--media-role=VALUE
  Set the media role property (default Music).
  The media type is used by the session manager to select a suitable target
  to link to.

--target=VALUE
  Set a node target (default auto). The value can be:

  auto
    Automatically select (Default)

  0
    Don't try to link this node

  <id>
    The object.serial or the node.name of a target node

--latency=VALUE[*units*]
  Set the node latency (default 100ms)

  The latency determines the minimum amount of time it takes
  for a sample to travel from application to device (playback) and
  from device to application (capture).

  The latency determines the size of the buffers that the
  application will be able to fill. Lower latency means smaller
  buffers but higher overhead. Higher latency means larger buffers
  and lower overhead.

  Units can be **s** for seconds, **ms** for milliseconds,
  **us** for microseconds, **ns** for nanoseconds.
  If no units are given, the latency value is samples with the samplerate
  of the file.

-P | --properties=VALUE
  Set extra stream properties as a JSON object.

-q | --quality=VALUE
  Resampler quality. When the samplerate of the source or
  destination file does not match the samplerate of the server, the
  data will be resampled. Higher quality uses more CPU. Values between 0 and 15 are
  allowed, the default quality is 4.

--rate=VALUE
  The sample rate, default 48000.

--channels=VALUE
  The number of channels, default 2.

--channel-map=VALUE
  The channelmap. Possible values include:
  **mono**, **stereo**, **surround-21**,
  **quad**, **surround-22**, **surround-40**,
  **surround-31**, **surround-41**,
  **surround-50**, **surround-51**,
  **surround-51r**, **surround-70**,
  **surround-71** or a comma separated list of channel names:
  **FL**, **FR**, **FC**, **LFE**,
  **SL**, **SR**, **FLC**, **FRC**,
  **RC**, **RL**, **RR**, **TC**,
  **TFL**, **TFC**, **TFR**, **TRL**,
  **TRC**, **TRR**, **RLC**, **RRC**,
  **FLW**, **FRW**, **LFE2**, **FLH**,
  **FCH**, **FRH**, **TFLC**, **TFRC**,
  **TSL**, **TSR**, **LLFR**, **RLFE**,
  **BC**, **BLC**, **BRC**

--format=VALUE
  The sample format to use. One of:
  **u8**, **s8**, **s16** (default), **s24**, **s32**,
  **f32**, **f64**.

--volume=VALUE
  The stream volume, default 1.000.
  Depending on the locale you have configured, "," or "." may be
  used as a decimal seperator. Check with **locale** command.

AUTHORS
=======

The PipeWire Developers <@PACKAGE_BUGREPORT@>; PipeWire is available from @PACKAGE_URL@

SEE ALSO
========

``PipeWire(1)``,
``pw-mon(1)``,