diff --git a/man/pacat.1.xml.in b/man/pacat.1.xml.in
index 68a3a12a5..2e274507d 100644
--- a/man/pacat.1.xml.in
+++ b/man/pacat.1.xml.in
@@ -21,18 +21,22 @@ Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307
 USA.
 -->
 
-<manpage name="pacat" section="1" desc="Play back or record raw audio streams on a PulseAudio sound server">
+<manpage name="pacat" section="1" desc="Play back or record raw or encoded audio streams on a PulseAudio sound server">
 
   <synopsis>
+    <cmd>paplay [<arg>options</arg>] [<arg>FILE</arg>]</cmd>
+    <cmd>parecord [<arg>options</arg>] [<arg>FILE</arg>]</cmd>
     <cmd>pacat [<arg>options</arg>] [<arg>FILE</arg>]</cmd>
     <cmd>parec [<arg>options</arg>] [<arg>FILE</arg>]</cmd>
-    <cmd>paplay <opt>--help</opt></cmd>
-    <cmd>paplay <opt>--version</opt></cmd>
+    <cmd>pamon [<arg>options</arg>] [<arg>FILE</arg>]</cmd>
+    <cmd>pacat <opt>--help</opt></cmd>
+    <cmd>pacat <opt>--version</opt></cmd>
   </synopsis>
 
   <description>
     <p><file>pacat</file> is a simple tool for playing back or
-    capturing raw audio files on a PulseAudio sound server.</p>
+    capturing raw or encoded audio files on a PulseAudio sound
+    server.</p>
   </description>
 
   <options>
@@ -52,13 +56,13 @@ USA.
     <option>
       <p><opt>-r | --record</opt></p>
 
-      <optdesc><p>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 <file>parec</file> this is the default.</p></optdesc>
+      <optdesc><p>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 <file>parec</file> this is the default.</p></optdesc>
     </option>
 
     <option>
       <p><opt>-p | --playback</opt></p>
 
-      <optdesc><p>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 <file>pacat</file> this is the default.</p></optdesc>
+      <optdesc><p>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 <file>pacat</file> this is the default.</p></optdesc>
     </option>
 
     <option>
@@ -108,14 +112,17 @@ USA.
 
       <optdesc><p>Capture or play back audio with the specified sample
       format. Specify one of <opt>u8</opt>, <opt>s16le</opt>,
-      <opt>s16be</opt>, <opt>s32le</opt>,
-      <opt>s32be</opt>, <opt>float32le</opt>, <opt>float32be</opt>,
-      <opt>ulaw</opt>, <opt>alaw</opt>. Depending on the endianess of
-      the CPU the
-      formats <opt>s16ne</opt>, <opt>s16re</opt>, <opt>s32ne</opt>, <opt>s32re</opt>,
-      <opt>float32ne</opt>, <opt>float32re</opt> (for native,
-      resp. reverse endian) are available as aliases. Defaults to
-      s16ne.</p></optdesc>
+      <opt>s16be</opt>, <opt>s32le</opt>, <opt>s32be</opt>,
+      <opt>float32le</opt>, <opt>float32be</opt>, <opt>ulaw</opt>,
+      <opt>alaw</opt>, <opt>s32le</opt>, <opt>s32be</opt>,
+      <opt>s24le</opt>, <opt>s24be</opt>, <opt>s24-32le</opt>,
+      <opt>s24-32be</opt>. Depending on the endianess of the CPU the
+      formats <opt>s16ne</opt>, <opt>s16re</opt>, <opt>s32ne</opt>,
+      <opt>s32re</opt>, <opt>float32ne</opt>, <opt>float32re</opt>,
+      <opt>s32ne</opt>, <opt>s32re</opt>, <opt>s24ne</opt>,
+      <opt>s24re</opt>, <opt>s24-32ne</opt>, <opt>s24-32re</opt> (for
+      native, resp. reverse endian) are available as aliases. Defaults
+      to s16ne.</p></optdesc>
     </option>
 
     <option>
@@ -170,6 +177,65 @@ USA.
       <optdesc><p>Never remap channels. Instead of mapping channels by their name this will match them solely by their index/order.</p></optdesc>
     </option>
 
+    <option>
+      <p><opt>--latency</opt><arg>=BYTES</arg></p>
+      <optdesc><p>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
+      <opt>--latency-msec</opt>, but not both.</p></optdesc>
+    </option>
+
+    <option>
+      <p><opt>--latency-msec</opt><arg>=MSEC</arg></p>
+      <optdesc><p>Explicitly configure the latency, with a time
+      specified in miliseconds. If left out the server will pick the
+      latency, usually relatively high for power saving reasons. Use
+      either this option or <opt>--latency</opt>, but not
+      both.</p></optdesc>
+    </option>
+
+    <option>
+      <p><opt>--process-time</opt><arg>=BYTES</arg></p>
+      <optdesc><p>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
+      <opt>--process-time-msec</opt>, but not both.</p></optdesc>
+    </option>
+
+    <option>
+      <p><opt>--process-time-msec</opt><arg>=MSEC</arg></p>
+      <optdesc><p>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 <opt>--process-time</opt>,
+      but not both.</p></optdesc>
+    </option>
+
+    <option>
+      <p><opt>--property</opt><arg>=PROPERTY=VALUE</arg></p>
+      <optdesc><p>Attach a property to the client and stream. May be
+      used multiple times</p></optdesc>
+    </option>
+
+    <option>
+      <p><opt>--raw</opt></p>
+      <optdesc><p>Play/record raw audio data. This is the default if
+      this program is invoked as <cmd>pacat</cmd>, <cmd>parec</cmd> or
+      <cmd>pamon</cmd>.</p></optdesc>
+    </option>
+
+    <option>
+      <p><opt>--file-format</opt><arg>[=FFORMAT]</arg></p>
+      <optdesc><p>Play/record encoded audio data in the file format
+      specified. This is the default if this program is invoked as
+      <cmd>paplay</cmd> and <cmd>parecord</cmd>.</p></optdesc>
+    </option>
+
+    <option>
+      <p><opt>--list-file-formats</opt></p>
+      <optdesc><p>List supported file formats.</p></optdesc>
+    </option>
+
   </options>
 
   <section name="Authors">
@@ -178,7 +244,7 @@ USA.
 
   <section name="See also">
     <p>
-      <manref name="pulseaudio" section="1"/>, <manref name="paplay" section="1"/>
+      <manref name="pulseaudio" section="1"/>, <manref name="pactl" section="1"/>
     </p>
   </section>
 
diff --git a/src/utils/pacat.c b/src/utils/pacat.c
index 5f29ba399..a5d2e9a68 100644
--- a/src/utils/pacat.c
+++ b/src/utils/pacat.c
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@
 #include <pulsecore/core-util.h>
 #include <pulsecore/log.h>
 #include <pulsecore/sndfile-util.h>
+#include <pulsecore/core-util.h>
 
 #define TIME_EVENT_USEC 50000
 
@@ -86,6 +87,7 @@ static sf_count_t (*writef_function)(SNDFILE *_sndfile, const void *ptr, sf_coun
 static pa_stream_flags_t flags = 0;
 
 static size_t latency = 0, process_time = 0;
+static int32_t latency_msec = 0, process_time_msec = 0;
 
 static pa_bool_t raw = TRUE;
 static int file_format = -1;
@@ -434,19 +436,25 @@ static void context_state_callback(pa_context *c, void *userdata) {
             buffer_attr.maxlength = (uint32_t) -1;
             buffer_attr.prebuf = (uint32_t) -1;
 
-            if (latency > 0) {
-                buffer_attr.fragsize = buffer_attr.tlength = (uint32_t) latency;
-                buffer_attr.minreq = (uint32_t) process_time;
+            if (latency_msec > 0) {
+                buffer_attr.fragsize = buffer_attr.tlength = pa_usec_to_bytes(latency_msec * PA_USEC_PER_MSEC, &sample_spec);
                 flags |= PA_STREAM_ADJUST_LATENCY;
-            } else {
-                buffer_attr.tlength = (uint32_t) -1;
+            } else if (latency > 0) {
+                buffer_attr.fragsize = buffer_attr.tlength = (uint32_t) latency;
+                flags |= PA_STREAM_ADJUST_LATENCY;
+            } else
+                buffer_attr.fragsize = buffer_attr.tlength = (uint32_t) -1;
+
+            if (process_time_msec > 0) {
+                buffer_attr.minreq = pa_usec_to_bytes(process_time_msec * PA_USEC_PER_MSEC, &sample_spec);
+            } else if (process_time > 0)
+                buffer_attr.minreq = (uint32_t) process_time;
+            else
                 buffer_attr.minreq = (uint32_t) -1;
-                buffer_attr.fragsize = (uint32_t) -1;
-            }
 
             if (mode == PLAYBACK) {
                 pa_cvolume cv;
-                if (pa_stream_connect_playback(stream, device, latency > 0 ? &buffer_attr : NULL, flags, volume_is_set ? pa_cvolume_set(&cv, sample_spec.channels, volume) : NULL, NULL) < 0) {
+                if (pa_stream_connect_playback(stream, device, &buffer_attr, flags, volume_is_set ? pa_cvolume_set(&cv, sample_spec.channels, volume) : NULL, NULL) < 0) {
                     pa_log(_("pa_stream_connect_playback() failed: %s"), pa_strerror(pa_context_errno(c)));
                     goto fail;
                 }
@@ -634,9 +642,11 @@ static void help(const char *argv0) {
              "      --no-remap                        Map channels by index instead of name.\n"
              "      --latency=BYTES                   Request the specified latency in bytes.\n"
              "      --process-time=BYTES              Request the specified process time per request in bytes.\n"
+             "      --latency-msec=MSEC               Request the specified latency in msec.\n"
+             "      --process-time-msec=MSEC          Request the specified process time per request in msec.\n"
              "      --property=PROPERTY=VALUE         Set the specified property to the specified value.\n"
              "      --raw                             Record/play raw PCM data.\n"
-             "      --file-format=FFORMAT             Record/play formatted PCM data.\n"
+             "      --file-format[=FFORMAT]           Record/play formatted PCM data.\n"
              "      --list-file-formats               List available file formats.\n")
            , argv0);
 }
@@ -659,7 +669,9 @@ enum {
     ARG_RAW,
     ARG_PROPERTY,
     ARG_FILE_FORMAT,
-    ARG_LIST_FILE_FORMATS
+    ARG_LIST_FILE_FORMATS,
+    ARG_LATENCY_MSEC,
+    ARG_PROCESS_TIME_MSEC
 };
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
@@ -695,6 +707,8 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
         {"raw",          0, NULL, ARG_RAW},
         {"file-format",  2, NULL, ARG_FILE_FORMAT},
         {"list-file-formats", 0, NULL, ARG_LIST_FILE_FORMATS},
+        {"latency-msec", 1, NULL, ARG_LATENCY_MSEC},
+        {"process-time-msec", 1, NULL, ARG_PROCESS_TIME_MSEC},
         {NULL,           0, NULL, 0}
     };
 
@@ -854,6 +868,20 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
                 }
                 break;
 
+            case ARG_LATENCY_MSEC:
+                if (((latency_msec = (int32_t) atoi(optarg))) <= 0) {
+                    pa_log(_("Invalid latency specification '%s'"), optarg);
+                    goto quit;
+                }
+                break;
+
+            case ARG_PROCESS_TIME_MSEC:
+                if (((process_time_msec = (int32_t) atoi(optarg))) <= 0) {
+                    pa_log(_("Invalid process time specification '%s'"), optarg);
+                    goto quit;
+                }
+                break;
+
             case ARG_PROPERTY: {
                 char *t;