RTPENGINE-RECORDING(1)

📦
version 10.5.3.5 · 2 versions
, in debian bookworm

💖 RTPENGINE-RECORDING 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to the manual page for rtpengine-recording, the media recording daemon for Sipwise rtpengine 🎀 yes it's a whole thing, yes it's iconic, let's get into it.

✨ NAME ✨

rtpengine-recording — media recording daemon for Sipwise rtpengine 🌸

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

rtpengine-recording [option...]

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

So the Sipwise rtpengine media proxy has support for exporting media (RTP) packets that it forwards, right? 🦋 And the rtpengine-recording daemon is the bestie that collects all those exported packets and decodes them into an audio format you can actually listen to. no cap, that's the whole job. 💅

✨ OPTIONS ✨

okay real talk: all of these options can — and honestly should — be provided in a config file instead of at the command line. peek the --config-file option below for the deets. 📝

And if you give no options at all? Defaults just kick in, and they should be totally sufficient for a standard installation of rtpengine. slay, no config needed. ✨

  • --help — prints the usage information. that's it, that's the tweet. 💖
  • -v, --version — if you call the rtpengine-recording daemon with this, it just prints its version number and exits. short and sweet. 🎀
  • --config-file=FILE — tells it where the config file lives. The config file is an .ini style config file, and every command-line option listed here is also a valid option in the config file. Big important detail: for all command-line options, you gotta use the long name version instead of the single-character version in the config file (so like table, not just t). And for boolean options that are either present or not (think output-mixed), you have to write an actual boolean value (true or false) in the config file. If an option shows up in both the config file and the command line, the command-line value wins and overrides the config file. 👑

As a special value, you can pass none here to suppress loading of the default config file. 💅

  • --config-section=STRING — specifies the .ini style section to use in the config file. You can have multiple sections in the config file, but only one can be used at a time. The default value is rtpengine-recording. A section gets started in the config file with square brackets, like [rtpengine-recording]. 🧚
  • -L, --log-level=INT — takes an integer and controls the highest log level that gets sent to syslog. The log levels correspond to the ones in the syslog(3) man page. Default value is 6, which is equivalent to LOG_INFO. The highest possible value is 7 (LOG_DEBUG), which will log everything. literally everything. 🙈
  • --log-facilty=daemon|local0|...|local7|... — the syslog facilty to use when sending log messages to the syslog daemon. Defaults to daemon. (yes, the option is spelled facilty, we don't make the rules 💀)
  • -E, --log-stderr — log to stderr instead of syslog. Only useful in combination with --foreground. 🫶
  • --split-logs — splits multi-line log messages into individual log messages, so every single line gets its own log line prefix. ✨
  • --no-log-timestamps — don't add timestamps to log lines written to stderr. Only useful in combination with --log-stderr. ⏰
  • --log-mark-prefix=STRING — a prefix to be added to particular data fields in log files that are deemed sensitive and/or private information. Defaults to an empty string. 🤫
  • --log-mark-suffix=STRING — a suffix to be added to particular data fields in log files that are deemed sensitive and/or private information. Defaults to an empty string. 🤫
  • -p, --pidfile=FILE — specifies a path and file name to write the daemon's PID number to. 📌
  • -f, --foreground — if given, stops the daemon from daemonizing, meaning it stays in the foreground. Super useful for debugging. 🔍
  • -t, --table=INT — takes an integer argument. The value must match the table option given to the rtpengine media proxy, for in-kernel packet forwarding. Defaults to 0 if not specified. 🍓
  • --spool-dir=PATH — the path you give here must match the recording-dir path given to the rtpengine media proxy. Defaults to /var/spool/rtpengine. Heads up: the path must live on a file system that supports the inotify mechanism. ⚠️
  • --num-threads=INT — how many worker threads to launch. Defaults to the number of CPU cores available, or 8 if there are fewer than that, or if the number is not known. 🧵
  • --thread-stack=INT — sets the stack size of each thread to the value given, in kB. Defaults to 2048 kB. You can set it to -1 to leave the default provided by the OS unchanged. 🌈
  • --output-storage=file|db|both — where to store media files. By default, media files are written directly to the file system (see output-dir). They can also be stored as a BLOB in a MySQL database, either instead of, or in addition to, being written to the file system. 💾
  • --output-dir=PATH — path for media files to be written to if file output is enabled. Defaults to /var/lib/rtpengine-recording. And the path must not be the same as used for the spool-dir. 🚫
  • --output-pattern=STRING — the file name pattern to be used for recording files. The pattern can reference sub-directories, and parent directories will be created on demand. The default setting is %c-%t. 🎀

The pattern must include printf-style format sequences. Supported format sequences are:

  • %% — a literal percent sign. 💯
  • %c — the call ID. It is mandatory for the output pattern to include this format sequence. 👑
  • %t — the stream type. For single streams this is the SSRC written as hexadecimal; for mix stream this is the string mix. It is mandatory for the output pattern to include this format sequence. 👑
  • %l — the label for the participating party as communicated from the controlling daemon. 🏷️
  • %Y, %m, %d, %H, %M, %S — these format sequences reference the current system time (when the output file was created) and are the same as the format sequences supported by date(1) or strftime(3) — year, month, day, hours, minutes, and seconds, respectively. 🕐
  • %u — microseconds, expanded to 6 digits (000000 through 999999). ⏱️
  • %INT — references a prefix from the call ID of the given length. If this format sequence is present more than once, then the prefixes are cumulative. For example, if the call ID is abcdefgh and the output pattern is configured as %2/%3/%c, then the resulting output file name would be ab/cde/abcdefgh. 🪄
  • --output-format=wav|mp3|none — the file format to be used for media files that are produced. Defaults to PCM WAV (RIFF) files. This applies to both files stored on the file system and in a database. If none is selected then file output is disabled. 🎧
  • --resample-to=INT — resample all audio to the given sample rate (e.g. 48000). Resampling is disabled by default, meaning files will be written with the same sample rate as the source media. 🌊
  • --mp3-bitrate=INT — if MP3 output is selected, use the given bitrate for the MP3 encoder (e.g. 64000). There is no default value, so this option must be given if MP3 output is selected. Also note that not all bitrates are valid in combination with all sample rates — for MP3 output it's therefore recommended to also set resample-to. ⚠️
  • --output-mixed — produce mixed audio files. 💞
  • --output-single — produce single audio files. 💫

Whether to produce mixed audio files, or single audio files, or both. If neither option is given, then by default both are enabled. If no file output is desired, set output-format to none. 🚫

A single audio file contains the audio for a single RTP SSRC, which usually means an unidirectional audio stream. These are decoded directly from an RTP stream and do not take timestamping into account, meaning that gaps or pauses in the RTP stream are not reflected in the output audio file. 🙈

A mixed audio file consists of the first four RTP SSRC seen, mixed together into a single output file, which usually means that a bidirectional audio stream is produced. Audio mixing does take RTP timestamping into account, so gaps and pauses in the RTP media are reflected in the output audio to keep the multiple audio sources in sync. 🎶

  • --mix-method=direct|channels — selects a method to mix multiple audio inputs into a single output file for mixed output. The default is direct, which directly mixes all audio inputs together, producing a mixed output file with the same format as an audio file from a single input (output-single) would be. 🌀

The channels mixing method puts each audio input into its own audio channel in the output file, therefore producing a multi-channel output file. Up to four separate RTP SSRCs are supported for a mixed output, which means that if each input is mono audio, then the mixed output file would contain 4 audio channels. This mixing method requires an output file format which supports these kinds of multi-channel audio formats (e.g. wav). 🎛️

  • --output-chmod=INT — change the file permissions of recording files to the given mode. Must be given as an octal integer, for example 0660. 🔐
  • --output-chmod-dir=INT — change the file permissions of recording files to the given mode. Must be given as an octal integer, for example 0700 (which is also the default value). 🔐
  • --output-chown=USER|UID — change the ownership of recording files. 👤
  • --output-chgrp=GROUP|GID — change the ownership of recording files. 👥

Either user/group names or numeric IDs are supported. If the value is blank or given as -1 then the user/group is left unchanged. 🫶

  • --mysql-host=HOST|IP, --mysql-port=INT, --mysql-user=USERNAME, --mysql-pass=PASSWORD, --mysql-db=STRING — configuration for a MySQL storage backend. Details about calls and media files that are produced are stored into the database. Optionally the media files themselves can be stored as well (see output-storage). 🗄️
  • --forward-to=PATH — forward raw RTP packets to a Unix socket. Disabled by default. 📮
  • --tls-send-to=IP:PORT — send decoded audio over a TCP TLS connection to the specified destination. 🔒
  • --tls-resample=INT — send decoded audio over a TCP TLS connection to the specified destination. Audio is sent as raw mono 16-bit PCM in the given sample rate. 🔒

✨ EXIT STATUS ✨

  • 0 — Successful termination. 🎉
  • 1 — An error occurred. 😭

✨ FILES ✨

  • /etc/rtpengine/rtpengine-recording.conf — Configuration file. 📁

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

rtpengine(8). 👀 go read that one too bestie

okay that's the whole page 💖 this was NGCP rtpengine manual, version 10.5.3.5-1+deb12u1, dated 2026-07-20 — and yes, this is the RTPENGINE-RECORDING(1) page, so now you know everything, go record some media, ate and left no crumbs 👑✨🎀

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