1 AUDIOPLAY(1)                     User Commands                    AUDIOPLAY(1)
   2 
   3 
   4 
   5 NAME
   6        audioplay - play audio files
   7 
   8 SYNOPSIS
   9        audioplay [-iV] [-v vol] [-d dev] [file]...
  10 
  11 
  12 DESCRIPTION
  13        The audioplay utility copies the named audio files (or the standard
  14        input if no filenames are present) to the audio device. If no input
  15        file is specified and standard input is a tty, the program exits with
  16        an error message.
  17 
  18 
  19        The input files must contain a valid audio file header. The encoding
  20        information in this header is matched against the capabilities of the
  21        audio device and, if the data formats are incompatible, an error
  22        message is printed and the file is skipped. Compressed ADPCM (G.721)
  23        monaural audio data is automatically uncompressed before playing.
  24 
  25 
  26        Minor deviations in sampling frequency (that is, less than 1%) are
  27        ordinarily ignored. This allows, for instance, data sampled at 8012 Hz
  28        to be played on an audio device that only supports 8000 Hz. If the -V
  29        option is present, such deviations are flagged with warning messages.
  30 
  31 OPTIONS
  32        The following options are supported:
  33 
  34        -d dev
  35                   Device: The dev argument specifies an alternate audio device
  36                   to which output should be directed. If the -d option is not
  37                   specified, the AUDIODEV environment variable is consulted
  38                   (see below). Otherwise, /dev/audio is used as the default
  39                   audio device.
  40 
  41 
  42        -i
  43                   Immediate: If the audio device is unavailable (that is,
  44                   another process currently has write access), audioplay
  45                   ordinarily waits until it can obtain access to the device.
  46                   When the -i option is present, audioplay prints an error
  47                   message and exits immediately if the device is busy.
  48 
  49 
  50        -v vol
  51                   Volume: The output volume is set to the specified value
  52                   before playing begins, and is reset to its previous level
  53                   when audioplay exits. The vol argument is an integer value
  54                   between 0 and 100, inclusive. If this argument is not
  55                   specified, the output volume remains at the level most
  56                   recently set by any process.
  57 
  58 
  59        -V
  60                   Verbose: Prints messages on the standard error when waiting
  61                   for access to the audio device or when sample rate
  62                   deviations are detected.
  63 
  64 
  65        -?
  66                   Help: Prints a command line usage message.
  67 
  68 
  69 OPERANDS
  70        file
  71                File Specification: Audio files named on the command line are
  72                played sequentially. If no filenames are present, the standard
  73                input stream (if it is not a tty) is played (it, too, must
  74                contain an audio file header). The special filename - can be
  75                used to read the standard input stream instead of a file. If a
  76                relative path name is supplied, the AUDIOPATH environment
  77                variable is consulted (see below).
  78 
  79 
  80 USAGE
  81        See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of audioplay when
  82        encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte (2^31 bytes).
  83 
  84 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
  85        AUDIODEV
  86                     The full path name of the audio device to write to, if no
  87                     -d argument is supplied. If the AUDIODEV variable is not
  88                     set, /dev/audio is used.
  89 
  90 
  91        AUDIOPATH
  92                     A colon-separated list of directories in which to search
  93                     for audio files whose names are given by relative
  94                     pathnames. The current directory (.) can be specified
  95                     explicitly in the search path. If the AUDIOPATH variable
  96                     is not set, only the current directory is searched.
  97 
  98 
  99 SEE ALSO
 100        audioconvert(1), audiorecord(1), largefile(5), audio(7I)
 101 
 102 BUGS
 103        audioplay currently supports a limited set of audio format conversions.
 104        If the audio file is not in a format supported by the audio device, it
 105        must first be converted. For example, to convert to voice format on the
 106        fly, use the command:
 107 
 108          example% audioconvert -f voice myfile | audioplay
 109 
 110 
 111 
 112 
 113        The format conversion is not always be able to keep up with the audio
 114        output.  If this is the case, you should convert to a temporary file
 115        before playing the data.
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 119                                February 8, 2020                   AUDIOPLAY(1)