audioplay(1)

NAME

audioplay − play audio files

SYNOPSIS

audioplay [ −i ] [ −V ] [ −v vol ] [ −d dev ] [ −p speaker|headphone|line ]
[ file... ]

DESCRIPTION

audioplay copies the named audio files (or the standard input if no filenames are present) to the audio device.

The input files must contain a valid audio file header. The encoding information in this header is matched against the capabilities of the audio device and, if the data formats are incompatible, an error message is printed and the file is skipped. Compressed ADPCM (G.721) audio data is automatically uncompressed before playing.

Minor deviations in sampling frequency (that is, less than 1%) are ordinarily ignored. This allows, for instance, data sampled at 8012 Hz to be played on an audio device that only supports 8000 Hz. If the −V option is present, such deviations are flagged with warning messages.

OPTIONS

−i Immediate: If the audio device is unavailable (that is, another process currently has write access), audioplay ordinarily waits until it can obtain access to the device. When the −i option is present, audioplay prints an error message and exits immediately if the device is busy.

−V Verbose: Print messages on the standard error when waiting for access to the audio device or when sample rate deviations are detected.

−v vol Volume: The output volume is set to the specified value before playing begins, and is reset to its previous level when audioplay exits. The vol argument is an integer value between 0 and 100, inclusive. If this argument is not specified, the output volume remains at the level most recently set by any process.

−d dev Device: The dev argument specifies an alternate audio device to which output should be directed. If the −d option is not specified, /dev/audio is used as the default audio device.

−p speaker|headphone|line
Output Port: Select the built-in speaker (the default), headphone jack, or line out as the destination of the audio output signal. The port option may be abbreviated. Not all audio adapters support all of the output ports. If the named port does not exist, an appropriate substitute will be used.

file File Specification: Audio files named on the command line are played sequentially. If no filenames are present, the standard input stream is played (it, too, must contain an audio file header). The special filename ‘−’ may be used to read the standard input stream instead of a file. If a relative path name is supplied, the AUDIOPATH environment variable is consulted (see below).

−? Help: Print a command line usage message.

ENVIRONMENT

AUDIOPATH
A colon-separated list of directories in which to search for audio files whose names are given by relative pathnames. The current directory (".") may be specified explicitly in the search path. If the AUDIOPATH variable is not set, only the current directory will be searched.

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