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APLAY(1) General Commands Manual APLAY(1)

NAME arecord, aplay - command-line sound recorder and player for ALSA soundcard 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 supported
   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.  Valid values
          are 1 through 32.

   _-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_SUBFRAME_BE MU_LAW A_LAW IMA_ADPCM MPEG GSM SPECIAL S24_3LE
          S24_3BE U24_3LE U24_3BE S20_3LE S20_3BE U20_3LE U20_3BE S18_3LE
          S18_3BE U18_3LE
          Some of these may not be available on selected hardware
          The available format shortcuts are:
          -f cd (16 bit little endian, 44100, stereo) [-f S16_LE -c2 -r44100]
          -f cdr (16 bit big endian, 44100, stereo) [-f S16_BE -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=#<Hz>_
          Sampling rate in Hertz. The default rate is 8000 Hertz.  If the
          value specified is less than 300, it is taken as the rate in
          kilohertz.  Valid values are 2000 through 192000 Hertz.

   _-d, --duration=#_
          Interrupt after # seconds.  A value of zero means infinity.  The
          default is zero, so if this option is omitted then the
          record/playback process will run until it is killed.  Either '-d'
          or '-s' option is available exclusively.

   _-s, --samples=#_
          Interrupt after transmission of # PCM frames.  A value of zero
          means infinity.  The default is zero, so if this options is
          omitted then the record/playback process will run until it is
          killed.  Either '-d' or '-s' option is available exclusively.

   _-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 buffer
          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.  This option disables max-file-time and
          use-strftime, and ignores SIGUSR1.  The stereo VU meter is not
          available with separate channels.

   _-P_ Playback.  This is the default if the program is invoked by typing
          aplay.

   _-C_ Record.  This is the default if the program is invoked by typing
          arecord.

   _-i, --interactive_
          Allow interactive operation via stdin.  Currently only
          pause/resume via space or enter key is implemented.

   _-m, --chmap=ch1,ch2,..._
          Give the channel map to override or follow.  Pass channel position
          strings like _FL_, _FR_, etc.

          If a device supports the override of the channel map, **aplay** tries
          to pass the given channel map.  If it doesn't support the channel
          map override but still it provides the channel map information,
          **aplay** tries to rearrange the channel order in the buffer to match
          with the returned channel map from the device.

   _--disable-resample_
          Disable automatic rate resample.

   _--disable-channels_
          Disable automatic channel conversions.

   _--disable-format_
          Disable automatic format conversions.

   _--disable-softvol_
          Disable software volume control (softvol).

   _--test-position_
          Test ring buffer position.

   _--test-coef=<coef>_
          Test coefficient for ring buffer position; default is 8.
          Expression for validation is: coef * (buffer_size / 2).  Minimum
          value is 1.

   _--test-nowait_
          Do not wait for the ring buffer ‐ eats the whole CPU.

   _--max-file-time_
          While recording, when the output file has been accumulating sound
          for this long, close it and open a new output file.  Default is
          the maximum size supported by the file format: 2 GiB for WAV
          files.  This option has no effect if  --separate-channels is
          specified.

   _--process-id-file <file name>_
          aplay writes its process ID here, so other programs can send
          signals to it.

   _--use-strftime_
          When recording, interpret %-codes in the file name parameter using
          the strftime facility whenever the output file is opened.  The
          important strftime codes are: %Y is the year, %m month, %d day of
          the month, %H hour, %M minute and %S second.  In addition, %v is
          the file number, starting at 1.  When this option is specified,
          intermediate directories for the output file are created
          automatically.  This option has no effect if --separate-channels
          is specified.

   _--dump-hw-params_
          Dump hw_params of the device preconfigured status to stderr. The
          dump lists capabilities of the selected device such as supported
          formats, sampling rates, numbers of channels, period and buffer
          bytes/sizes/times.  For raw device hw:X this option basically
          lists hardware capabilities of the soundcard.

   _--fatal-errors_
          Disables recovery attempts when errors (e.g. xrun) are
          encountered; the aplay process instead aborts immediately.

SIGNALS When recording, SIGINT, SIGTERM and SIGABRT will close the output file and exit. SIGUSR1 will close the output file, open a new one, and continue recording. However, SIGUSR1 does not work with --separate-channels.

EXAMPLES 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
          }


   **arecord -t wav --max-file-time 30 mon.wav**
          Record from the default audio source in monaural, 8,000 samples
          per second, 8 bits per sample.  Start a new file every 30 seconds.
          File names are mon-nn.wav, where nn increases from 01.  The file
          after mon-99.wav is mon-100.wav.


   **arecord -f cd -t wav --max-file-time 3600 --use-strftime**
   **%Y/%m/%d/listen-%H-%M-%v.wav**
          Record in stereo from the default audio source.  Create a new file
          every hour.  The files are placed in directories based on their
          start dates and have names which include their start times and
          file numbers.