NAME

       pw-cat - Play and record media with PipeWire

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. When capturing
       PCM, the filename extension is used to guess the file format with the WAV file format as the default.

       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 raw data 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 separator. Check with locale command.

AUTHORS

       The PipeWire Developers <https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire/issues>; PipeWire is  available
       from <https://pipewire.org>

SEE ALSO

       pipewire(1), pw-mon(1),

PipeWire                                              1.0.5                                            pw-cat(1)