APLAY(1)

okay bestie, this is the General Commands Manual page for APLAY(1) 🎀 two sound tools, one vibe, let's go 💅

✨ NAME ✨

arecord, aplay: command-line sound recorder and player for the ALSA soundcard driver 🎧

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

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

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so arecord is a command-line soundfile recorder for the ALSA soundcard driver 🎙️ it's giving versatility bc it supports several file formats AND multiple soundcards with multiple devices 💖 also if you're recording with interleaved mode samples, the file gets automatically split before the 2GB filesize so you don't lose your bag 🫶

aplay is basically the same energy, just on the playing side instead of recording 🔊 for supported soundfile formats, the sampling rate, bit depth, and so forth can be automatically figured out from the soundfile header, so it does the homework for you 🧚

if you don't specify a filename, the standard output or input gets used instead 🌸 and aplay accepts multiple filenames, so you can queue up the whole playlist 💜

✨ OPTIONS ✨

• -h, --help — need a refresher? shows the syntax 📖
• --version — prints the current version 🔢
• -l, --list-devices — lists all soundcards and digital audio devices 🎛️
• -L, --list-pcms — lists all the PCMs that are defined 🧾
• -D, --device=NAME — selects a PCM by name 🎯
• -q, --quiet — quiet mode! it suppresses messages (not sound :)) 🤫
• -t, --file-type TYPE — picks the file type: voc, wav, raw or au 📁 if you leave this out, WAVE format is used 🌊
• -c, --channels=# — the number of channels 🎚️ default is one channel, and the valid values are 1 through 32 💅
• -f, --format=FORMAT — the sample format 🎶 these are the recognized ones:

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

heads up: some of these might not be available on your hardware, so don't be shocked if one ghosts you 💀

the format shortcuts are also a whole mood ✨

-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]

and if you don't give a format at all, U8 is used 🫠

• -r, --rate=#<Hz> — the sampling rate in Hertz 🎼 default is 8000 Hertz. if the value you pass is less than 300, it gets read as kilohertz instead. valid values are 2000 through 192000 Hertz 📈
• -d, --duration=# — interrupts after # seconds ⏱️ a value of zero means infinity. the default is zero, so if you skip this option, the record/playback keeps going until it gets killed 💀 also '-d' and '-s' are exclusive, so you can only pick one bestie 🙅
• -s, --samples=# — interrupts after # PCM frames are transmitted 🎞️ zero means infinity, and the default is zero too, so without this option it runs until it's killed 💀 and again, '-d' and '-s' can't be used together 🙅
• -M, --mmap — uses memory-mapped (mmap) I/O mode for the audio stream 🧠 if this isn't set, read/write I/O mode is used instead 📝
• -N, --nonblock — opens the audio device in non-blocking mode 🚪 if the device is busy, the program exits immediately 😤 if you don't set this, the program blocks until the audio device is free again 🕰️
• -F, --period-time=# — the distance between interrupts is # microseconds 🎵 if you give no period time and no period size, a quarter of the buffer time gets set 🍰
• -B, --buffer-time=# — buffer duration is # microseconds 🫧 if you give no buffer time and no buffer size, the maximal allowed buffer time gets set, but never more than 500ms 🧁
• --period-size=# — the distance between interrupts is # frames 🎞️ if you give no period size and no period time, a quarter of the buffer size gets set 🍰
• --buffer-size=# — buffer duration is # frames 🫧 if you give no buffer time and no buffer size, the maximal allowed buffer time gets set, but not more than 500ms 🧁
• -A, --avail-min=# — the min available space for wakeup is # microseconds 🔔
• -R, --start-delay=# — the delay for automatic PCM start is # microseconds ▶️ this is relative to buffer size if the value is <= 0 🌀
• -T, --stop-delay=# — the delay for automatic PCM stop is # microseconds from xrun ⏹️
• -v, --verbose — shows the PCM structure and setup 🔍 this one is accumulative, and the VU meter shows up when you give it twice or three times 📊
• -V, --vumeter=TYPE — picks the VU-meter type, either stereo or mono 🎚️ the stereo VU-meter is only available 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 it ignores SIGUSR1 🙈 the stereo VU meter isn't available with separate channels either 💔
• -P — playback! this is the default if you invoke the program by typing aplay ▶️
• -C — record! this is the default if you invoke the program by typing arecord ⏺️
• -i, --interactive — allows interactive operation via stdin 🎮 right now, only pause/resume via the space or enter key is implemented ⏯️
• -m, --chmap=ch1,ch2,... — gives the channel map to override or follow 🗺️ pass channel position strings like FL, FR, etc.
  • if a device supports overriding the channel map, aplay tries to pass the channel map you gave it 🎯
  • if it doesn't support the override but still provides channel map info, aplay tries to rearrange the channel order in the buffer so it matches the channel map the device returned 🔀
• --disable-resample — disables automatic rate resample 🚫
• --disable-channels — disables automatic channel conversions 🚫
• --disable-format — disables automatic format conversions 🚫
• --disable-softvol — disables software volume control (softvol) 🔇
• --test-position — tests the ring buffer position 🧪
• --test-coef=<coef> — the test coefficient for ring buffer position 🧮 default is 8. the expression for validation is: coef * (buffer_size / 2), and the minimum value is 1 💅
• --test-nowait — doesn't wait for the ring buffer, which means it eats the whole CPU 🔥 use with caution, bestie 💀
• --max-file-time — while recording, once the output file has been collecting sound for this long, it closes and a new output file opens 📂 the default is the max size the file format supports, which is 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 it signals 📨
• --use-strftime — when recording, the %-codes in the file name parameter get interpreted with the strftime facility every time the output file is opened 🗓️ the important ones are: %Y is the year, %m is the month, %d is the day of the month, %H is the hour, %M is the minute and %S is the second ⏰ also %v is the file number, starting at 1 🔢 when this option is on, intermediate directories for the output file get created automatically 📁 and it has no effect if --separate-channels is specified 🙅
• --dump-hw-params — dumps the hw_params of the device's preconfigured status to stderr 🖨️ the dump lists the device's capabilities, like supported formats, sampling rates, numbers of channels, and period and buffer bytes/sizes/times 📋 for the raw device hw:X, this option basically lists the hardware capabilities of the soundcard 🔬
• --fatal-errors — disables recovery attempts when errors (e.g. xrun) happen 💥 instead, the aplay process aborts immediately 🛑

✨ SIGNALS ✨

when recording, SIGINT, SIGTERM and SIGABRT will close the output file and exit 👋 SIGUSR1 closes the output file, opens a new one, and keeps recording 🔄 but heads up: SIGUSR1 does not work with --separate-channels 🙅

✨ EXAMPLES ✨

aplay -c 1 -t raw -r 22050 -f mu_law foobar

this 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

this 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

this records from the default audio source in monaural, 8,000 samples per second, 8 bits per sample 🎙️ a new file starts every 30 seconds 🕧 the file names are mon-nn.wav, where nn increases from 01, so 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

this records in stereo from the default audio source 🎧 it creates a new file every hour 🕐 the files are placed in directories based on their start dates, and they have names that include their start times and file numbers 🗂️✨

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

alsamixer(1), amixer(1) 🎛️

✨ BUGS ✨

bug alert 🚨 .aiff files are not currently supported 😭

✨ AUTHOR ✨

arecord and aplay are by Jaroslav Kysela <perex@perex.cz> 💜 this document is by Paul Winkler <zarmzarm@erols.com>. Updated for Alsa 0.9 by James Tappin <james@xena.uklinux.net> 🫶

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that's the whole tea, bestie 🍓 APLAY(1) from the General Commands Manual, dated 1 January 2010. stay iconic 👑🦋