Difference between revisions of "PulseAudio"
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− | [[Category: | + | [[Category:Sound]] |
[[cs:PulseAudio]] | [[cs:PulseAudio]] | ||
[[es:PulseAudio]] | [[es:PulseAudio]] | ||
[[fr:PulseAudio]] | [[fr:PulseAudio]] | ||
[[it:PulseAudio]] | [[it:PulseAudio]] | ||
+ | [[ja:PulseAudio]] | ||
[[pt:PulseAudio]] | [[pt:PulseAudio]] | ||
[[ru:PulseAudio]] | [[ru:PulseAudio]] | ||
− | [[ | + | [[zh-hans:PulseAudio]] |
− | {{ | + | {{Related articles start}} |
− | {{ | + | {{Related|PulseAudio/Examples}} |
− | {{ | + | {{Related|PulseAudio/Troubleshooting}} |
− | + | {{Related articles end}} | |
− | {{ | + | [[Wikipedia:PulseAudio|PulseAudio]] PulseAudio is a general purpose sound server intended to run as a middleware between your applications and your hardware devices, either using [[ALSA]] or [[OSS]]. It also offers easy network streaming accross local devices using [[Avahi]] if enabled. While its main purpose is to ease audio configuration, its modular design allows more advanced users to configure the daemon precisely to best suit their needs. |
− | + | {{Note|Some confusion may occur between [[ALSA]] and PulseAudio. ALSA includes a Linux kernel component with sound card drivers, as well as a userspace component, {{ic|libalsa}}.[http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Download] PulseAudio builds only on the kernel component, but offers compatibility with {{ic|libalsa}} through {{Pkg|pulseaudio-alsa}}.[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/FAQ/#index14h3]}} | |
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− | == | + | == Installation == |
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | [[Install]] the {{Pkg|pulseaudio}} package. | |
− | |||
− | PulseAudio | + | {{Note|Some PulseAudio modules have been [https://www.archlinux.org/news/pulseaudio-split/ split] from the main package and must be installed separately if needed.}} |
− | |||
− | + | * For PulseAudio to manage [[ALSA]] as well, install the {{Pkg|pulseaudio-alsa}} package, see [[#ALSA]]. | |
+ | * For [[bluetooth]] support (Bluez), install the {{Pkg|pulseaudio-bluetooth}} package, see [[bluetooth headset]] page. | ||
+ | * For equalizer sink (qpaeq), install the {{Pkg|pulseaudio-equalizer}} package. | ||
+ | * For GConf support (paprefs), install the {{Pkg|pulseaudio-gconf}} package. | ||
+ | * For [[JACK]] sink, source and jackdbus detection, install the {{Pkg|pulseaudio-jack}} package. | ||
+ | * For infrared (LIRC) volume control, install the {{Pkg|pulseaudio-lirc}} package. | ||
+ | * For Zeroconf ([[Avahi]]/DNS-SD) support, install the {{Pkg|pulseaudio-zeroconf}} package. | ||
− | + | === Front-ends === | |
− | + | {{Style|Application lists should use [[Template:App]].}} | |
− | + | There are a number of front-ends available for controlling the PulseAudio daemon: | |
+ | |||
+ | * For graphical configuration/volume control, install the {{Pkg|pavucontrol}} or {{Pkg|pavucontrol-qt}} package. | ||
+ | * For graphical general daemon configuration, install the {{Pkg|paprefs}} package. | ||
+ | * For console (CLI) mixers, install the {{Pkg|ponymix}} or {{Pkg|pamixer}} package. | ||
+ | * For console (curses) mixer, install the {{AUR|pulsemixer}} package. | ||
+ | * For volume control via mapped keyboard keys, install the {{AUR|pulseaudio-ctl}}, {{AUR|pavolume-git}} package. | ||
+ | * For system tray icon, install the {{pkg|volumeicon}}, {{AUR|pasystray}}, {{AUR|pasystray-git}} or {{AUR|pasystray-gtk2-standalone}} package. | ||
+ | : {{Tip|The non-standalone versions of {{ic|pasystray}} can install both GTK2 and GTK3 versions and requires choosing which during build. The standalone versions install a single version.}} | ||
+ | * For [[KDE]] Framework 5 Plasma applet, install the {{Pkg|kmix}} and {{Pkg|plasma-pa}} package. | ||
+ | * For [[Xfce]] 4 plugin: {{Pkg|xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin}}, {{AUR|pa-applet-git}} package. | ||
+ | * For web volume control, see [https://github.com/Siot/PaWebControl PaWebControl]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | == Configuration == | ||
+ | {{Merge|PulseAudio/Configuration|Configuration should stay in the main article, so the linked page should be merged here.|section=Abandoned draft}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | By default, PulseAudio is configured to automatically detect all sound cards and manage them. It takes control of all detected ALSA devices and redirects all audio streams to itself, making the PulseAudio daemon the central configuration point. The daemon should work mostly out of the box, only requiring a few minor tweaks. | ||
+ | |||
+ | While PulseAudio usually runs fine out of the box and requires only minimal configuration, advanced users can change almost every aspect of the daemon by either altering the default configuration file to disable modules or writing your own from scratch. | ||
+ | |||
+ | PulseAudio runs as a server daemon that can run either system-wide or on per-user basis using a client/server architecture. The daemon by itself does nothing without its '''modules''' except to provide an API and host dynamically loaded modules. The audio routing and processing tasks are all handled by various modules, including PulseAudio's native protocol itself (provided by [https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/Documentation/User/Modules/#index22h3 module-native-protocol-unix]). Clients reach the server through one of many protocol modules that will accept audio from external sources, route it through PulseAudio and eventually have it go out through a final other module. The output module does not have to be an actual sound output: it can dump the stream into a file, stream it to a broadcasting server such as [[Icecast]], or even just discard it. | ||
+ | |||
+ | You can find a detailed list of all available modules at [https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/Documentation/User/Modules/ Pulseaudio Loadable Modules]. To enable them you can just add a line {{ic|load-module <module-name-from-list>}} to {{ic|~/.config/pulse/default.pa}}. | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Configuration files === | ||
+ | |||
+ | PulseAudio will first look for configuration files in the home directory {{ic|~/.config/pulse}}, then system-wide {{ic|/etc/pulse}}. | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{Tip| | ||
+ | * It is strongly suggested not to edit system-wide configuration files, but rather edit user ones. Create the {{ic|~/.config/pulse}} directory, then copy the system configuration files into it and edit according to your need. | ||
+ | * Make sure you keep user configuration in sync with changes to the packaged files in {{ic|/etc/pulse/}}. Otherwise, PulseAudio may refuse to start due to configuration errors. | ||
+ | * There is usually no need to add your user to the {{ic|audio}} group, as PulseAudio uses [[udev]] and ''logind'' to give access dynamically to the currently "active" user. Exceptions would include running the machine headless so that there is no currently "active" user.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== daemon.conf ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is the main configuration file to configure the daemon itself. It defines base settings like the default sample rates used by modules, resampling methods, realtime scheduling and various other settings related to the server process. These can not be changed at runtime without restarting the PulseAudio daemon. The defaults are sensible for most users, see the {{man|5|pulse-daemon.conf}} manpage for additional information. Boolean options accepts any of these: {{ic|true}}, {{ic|yes}}, {{ic|on}} and {{ic|1}} as well as {{ic|false}}, {{ic|no}}, {{ic|off}} and {{ic|0}}. | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{Note|PulseAudio does not perform tilde expansion on paths in this file. Use absolute paths for any files.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {| class="wikitable" | ||
+ | |+ Notable configuration options | ||
+ | ! Option || Description | ||
+ | |+ | ||
+ | | daemonize || Controls whether the server will daemonize itself and return. Set to {{ic|no}} when debugging so you can see the debugging information on the terminal. | ||
+ | |+ | ||
+ | | resample-method || Which resampler to use when audio with incompatible sample rates needs to be passed between modules (e.g. playback of 96kHz audio on hardware which only supports 48kHz). The available resamplers can be listed with {{ic|$ pulseaudio --dump-resample-methods}}. Choose the best tradeoff between CPU usage and audio quality for the present use-case. {{Tip|In some cases PulseAudio will generate a high CPU load. This can happen when multiple streams are resampled (individually). If this is a common use-case in a workflow, it should be considered to create an additional sink at a matching sample rate which can then be fed into the main sink, resampling only once.}} | ||
+ | |+ | ||
+ | | avoid-resampling || With {{ic|1=avoid-resampling = yes}}, PulseAudio automatically configures the hardware to the sample rate which the application uses, if the hardware supports this sample rate (needs [https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/Notes/11.0/ PA 11] or higher) | ||
+ | {{Warning|Enabling this feature might cause audio distortion, therefore it is disabled by default, see the [https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/Notes/11.0/ release notes] for more information.}} | ||
+ | |+ | ||
+ | | enable-remixing || When the input and output have a different channel count (for example, outputting a 6 channel movie into a stereo sink), pulse can either remix all the channels (default, {{ic|yes}}) or just trivially map the channels by their name (left goes to left, right to right, all others ignored) when {{ic|no}} | ||
+ | |+ | ||
+ | | system-instance || If set to {{ic|yes}}, run the daemon as a [https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/Documentation/User/SystemWide/ system-wide] instance. [https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/Documentation/User/WhatIsWrongWithSystemWide/ Highly discouraged] as it can introduce security issues. Useful on [[Xorg multiseat|Multiseat]] systems, or headless systems that have no real local users. Defaults to {{ic|no}}. | ||
+ | |+ | ||
+ | | flat-volumes ||{{ic|flat-volumes}} scales the device-volume with the volume of the "loudest" application. For example, raising the VoIP call volume will raise the hardware volume and adjust the music-player volume so it stays where it was, without having to lower the volume of the music-player manually. Defaults to {{ic|yes}} upstream, but to {{ic|no}} within Arch. {{Note|The default behavior upstream can sometimes be confusing and some applications, unaware of this feature, can set their volume to 100% at startup, potentially blowing your speakers or your ears. This is why Arch defaults to the classic (ALSA) behavior by setting this to {{ic|no}}.}} | ||
+ | |+ | ||
+ | | realtime-scheduling || If your kernel supports realtime scheduling (for instance, [[Kernels#-rt]]{{Broken section link}} or [[Kernels#-ck]]{{Broken section link}}), set this to {{ic|yes}} to ensure PulseAudio can deliver low-latency glitch-free playback. You can adjust {{ic|realtime-priority}} as well to have it use the correct priority, especially when [[JACK]] is also running on the system. | ||
+ | |+ | ||
+ | | nice-level || Since PulseAudio runs in userspace and involves inter-process communication, audio can be subject to dropouts if the daemon doesn't have enough CPU time to process the audio. The default usually is enough, but can be tweaked to give pulse the wanted priority over (or below) other applications. | ||
+ | |+ | ||
+ | | exit-idle-time || If you want to run PulseAudio only when needed and use ALSA otherwise, you can set a delay in seconds after which the daemon will automatically shutdown after all clients are disconnected. Set it to -1 to disable this feature. | ||
+ | |+ | ||
+ | | log-level || When debugging, you may want to increase the logging level of the daemon to see exactly why a specific module fails to load. High logging levels will sometimes print useful information such as detected minimum latency for the system, which can then be used to tweak {{ic|default-fragments}} and {{ic|default-fragment-size-msec}}. | ||
+ | |+ | ||
+ | | default-sample-format || Usually doesn't need change, but if your sound card's native format is diffent performance and quality can be improved by setting the right format here. | ||
+ | |+ | ||
+ | | default-sample-rate || The default sample rate user by pulse unless overriden at module level. Change this if your sound card doesn't support 44100Hz or if you wish to upsample all audio. See previous note about CPU usage. | ||
+ | |+ | ||
+ | | alternate-sample-rate || To fix a common limitation where movies at 48000Hz were needlessly downsampled to 44100Hz, some modules support changing their sample rate dynamically to avoid resampling when possible. See manual for more in-depth information. Usually don't need any change. | ||
+ | |+ | ||
+ | | default-channels || The default number of channels when not specified. Usually don't need any change as you can configure more channels on per-module basis. | ||
+ | |+ | ||
+ | | default-fragments || Audio samples are split into multiple fragments of {{ic|default-fragment-size-msec}} each. The larger the buffer is, the less likely audio will skip when the system is overloaded. On the downside this will increase the overall latency. Increase this value if you have issues. | ||
+ | |+ | ||
+ | | default-fragment-size-msec || The size in milliseconds of each fragment. This is the amount of data that will be processed at once by the daemon. TODO: Verify | ||
+ | |} | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== default.pa ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | This file is a startup script and is used to configure modules. It is actually parsed and read after the daemon has finished initializing and additional commands can be sent at runtime using {{ic|$ pactl}} or {{ic|$ pacmd}}. The startup script can also be provided on the command line by starting PulseAudio in a terminal using {{ic|$ pulseaudio -nC}}. This will make the daemon load the CLI module and will accept the configuration directly from the command line, and output resulting information or error messages on the same terminal. This can be useful when debugging the daemon or just to test various modules before setting them permanently on disk. The manual page is quite self-explanatory, consult {{man|5|pulse-cli-syntax}} for the details of the syntax. | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{tip| | ||
+ | * Rather than being a complete copy, {{ic|~/.config/pulse/default.pa}} can start with the line {{ic|.include /etc/pulse/default.pa}} and then just override the defaults. | ||
+ | * Run {{ic|<nowiki>$ pacmd list-sinks|egrep -i 'index:|name:'</nowiki>}} to list available sinks. The present default sink is marked with an asterisk. | ||
+ | * Edit {{ic|~/.config/pulse/default.pa}} to insert/alter the set-default-sink command using the sink's name as the numbering cannot be guaranteed repeatable. | ||
+ | }} | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== client.conf ==== | ||
+ | This is the configuration file read by every PulseAudio client application. It is used to configure runtime options for individual clients. It can be used to set and configure the default sink and source statically as well as allowing (or disallowing) clients to automatically start the server if not currently running. | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Configuration command === | ||
+ | |||
+ | The main command to configure a server during runtime is {{ic|$ pacmd}}. Run {{ic|$ pacmd --help}} for a list options, or just run {{ic|$ pacmd}} to enter the shell interactive mode and {{ic|Ctrl+d}} to exit. All modifications will immediately be applied. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Once your new settings have been tested and meet your needs, edit the {{ic|default.pa}} accordingly to make the change persistent. See [[PulseAudio/Examples]] for some basic settings. | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{Tip|leave the {{ic|load-module module-default-device-restore}} line in the {{ic|default.pa}} file untouched. It will allow you to restart the server in its default state, thus dismissing any wrong setting.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | It is important to understand that the "sources" (processes, capture devices) and "sinks" (sound cards, servers, other processes) accessible and selectable through PulseAudio depend upon the current hardware "Profile" selected. These "Profiles" are those ALSA "pcms" listed by the command {{ic|aplay -L}}, and more specifically by the command {{ic|pacmd list-cards}}, which will include a line "index:", a list beginning "profiles:", and a line "active profile: <...>" in the output, among other things. "Profiles" correspond to different card input/output configurations, notably the number of available input/output channels. | ||
− | + | The "active profile" can be set with the command {{ic|pacmd set-card-profile INDEX PROFILE}}, with ''no'' comma separating INDEX and PROFILE, where INDEX is just the number on the line "index:" and a PROFILE name is everything shown from the beginning of any line under "profile:" to just ''before'' the colon and first space, as shown by the command {{ic|pacmd list-cards}}. For instance, {{ic|pacmd set-card-profile 0 output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo}}. | |
− | + | It may be easier to select a "Profile" with a graphical tool like {{ic|pavucontrol}}, under the "Configuration" tab, or KDE System Settings, "Multimedia/Audio and Video Settings", under the "Audio Hardware Setup" tab. Each audio "Card", which are those devices listed by the command {{ic|aplay -l}}, or again by the command {{ic|pacmd list-cards}}, will have its own selectable "Profile". When a "Profile" has been selected, the then available "sources" and "sinks" can be seen by using the commands {{ic|pacmd list-sources}} and {{ic|pacmd list-sinks}}. Note that the "index" of the available sources and sinks will change each time a card profile is changed. | |
− | + | The selected "Profile" can be an issue for some applications, especially the Adobe Flash players, typically {{ic|/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so}} and {{ic|/usr/lib/PepperFlash/libpepflashplayer.so}}. Often, these Flash players will only work when one of the Stereo profiles is selected, and otherwise, will play video with no sound, or will simply "crash". When all else fails, you might try selecting a different profile. | |
− | + | Of course, when configuring some variation of Surround Sound in PulseAudio, the appropriate Surround profile will have to be selected, before Surround Sound will work, or in order to do things like remap the speaker channels. | |
− | == | + | == Running == |
− | + | PulseAudio on Arch has {{ic|pulseaudio.socket}} enabled by default for the [[systemd/User]] instance. This means that PulseAudio will automatically start when needed. | |
− | + | {{Note| | |
− | + | * To disable {{ic|pulseaudio.socket}}, make sure that {{ic|$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/systemd/user/}} exists and run {{ic|systemctl --user mask pulseaudio.socket}}. | |
+ | * Many [[desktop environments]] autostart programs based on [[Desktop entries#Autostart|desktop files]] in the {{ic|/etc/xdg/autostart/}} directory. In this case, PulseAudio will be launched automatically regardless of the socket activation status. | ||
+ | }} | ||
− | + | For more information, see [http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/Documentation/User/Running/ PulseAudio: Running]. | |
− | + | == Back-end configuration == | |
− | ===ALSA=== | + | === ALSA === |
− | |||
− | |||
− | {{ | + | If you have applications that do not support PulseAudio explicitly but rely on ALSA, these applications will try to access the sound card directly via ALSA and will therefore bypass PulseAudio. PulseAudio will thus not have access to the sound card any more. As a result, all applications relying on PulseAudio will not be working any more, leading to [[PulseAudio/Troubleshooting#The only device shown is "dummy output" or newly connected cards are not detected|this issue]]. To prevent this, you will need to install the {{Pkg|pulseaudio-alsa}} package. It contains the necessary {{ic|/etc/asound.conf}} for configuring ALSA to use PulseAudio. Also make sure that {{ic|~/.asoundrc}} does not exist, as it would override the {{ic|/etc/asound.conf}} file. |
− | + | Please also install {{Pkg|lib32-libpulse}} and {{Pkg|lib32-alsa-plugins}} if you run a x86_64 system and want to have sound for 32-bit [[multilib]] programs like [[Wine]] and [[Steam]]. | |
− | To prevent applications from using ALSA's OSS emulation and bypassing | + | To prevent applications from using ALSA's OSS emulation and bypassing PulseAudio (thereby preventing other applications from playing sound), make sure the module {{ic|snd_pcm_oss}} is not being loaded at boot. If it is currently loaded ({{ic|<nowiki>lsmod | grep oss</nowiki>}}), disable it by executing: |
# rmmod snd_pcm_oss | # rmmod snd_pcm_oss | ||
− | === | + | ==== Expose PulseAudio sources, sinks and mixers to ALSA ==== |
− | + | Although {{Pkg|pulseaudio-alsa}} contains the necessary configuration file to allow ALSA applications to use PulseAudio's default device, ALSA's {{ic|pulse}} plugin is more versatile than that: | |
− | = | + | {{hc|~/.asoundrc (or /etc/asound.conf)|2= |
− | + | # Create an alsa input/output using specific PulseAudio sources/sinks | |
− | + | pcm.pulse-example1 { | |
+ | type pulse | ||
+ | device "my-combined-sink" # name of a source or sink | ||
+ | fallback "pulse-example2" # if combined not available | ||
+ | } | ||
+ | |||
+ | pcm.pulse-example2 { | ||
+ | type pulse | ||
+ | device "other-sound-card" # name of a source or sink | ||
+ | # example: device "alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo" | ||
+ | } | ||
+ | |||
+ | # Create an alsa mixer using specific PulseAudio sources/sinks | ||
+ | # these can be tested with "alsamixer -D pulse-example3" | ||
+ | ctl.pulse-example3 { | ||
+ | type pulse | ||
+ | device "my-output" # name of source or sink to control | ||
+ | |||
+ | # example: always control the laptop speakers: | ||
+ | # device "alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo" | ||
+ | fallback "pulse-example4" # supports fallback too | ||
+ | } | ||
+ | |||
+ | # Mixers also can control a specific source and sink, separately: | ||
+ | ctl.pulse-example4 { | ||
+ | type pulse | ||
+ | sink "my-usb-headphones" | ||
+ | source "my-internal-mic" | ||
+ | |||
+ | # example: output to HDMI, record using internal | ||
+ | sink "alsa_output.pci-0000_01_00.1.hdmi-stereo-extra1" | ||
+ | source "alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo" | ||
+ | } | ||
+ | |||
+ | # These can override the default mixer (example: for pnmixer integration) | ||
+ | ctl.!default { | ||
+ | type pulse | ||
+ | sink "alsa_output.pci-0000_01_00.1.hdmi-stereo-extra1" | ||
+ | source "alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo" | ||
+ | } | ||
+ | }} | ||
+ | |||
+ | The [http://git.alsa-project.org/?p=alsa-plugins.git;a=tree;f=pulse;hb=HEAD source code] can be read to know all available options. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== ALSA/dmix without grabbing hardware device ==== | ||
− | + | {{Note|This section describes alternative configuration, which is generally '''not''' recommended.}} | |
− | ====padsp wrapper | + | You may want to use ALSA directly in most of your applications while still being able to use applications which require PulseAudio at the same time. The following steps allow you to make PulseAudio use dmix instead of grabbing ALSA hardware device. |
− | Programs using OSS can work with PulseAudio by starting it with padsp: | + | |
+ | * Remove package {{Pkg|pulseaudio-alsa}}, which provides compatibility layer between ALSA applications and PulseAudio. After this your ALSA apps will use ALSA directly without being hooked by Pulse. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Edit {{ic|/etc/pulse/default.pa}}. | ||
+ | :Find and uncomment lines which load back-end drivers. Add '''device''' parameters as follows. Then find and comment lines which load autodetect modules. | ||
+ | load-module module-alsa-sink '''device=dmix''' | ||
+ | load-module module-alsa-source '''device=dsnoop''' | ||
+ | # load-module module-udev-detect | ||
+ | # load-module module-detect | ||
+ | |||
+ | * ''Optional:'' If you use {{Pkg|kmix}} you may want to control ALSA volume instead of PulseAudio volume: | ||
+ | $ echo export KMIX_PULSEAUDIO_DISABLE=1 > ~/.kde4/env/kmix_disable_pulse.sh | ||
+ | $ chmod +x ~/.kde4/env/kmix_disable_pulse.sh | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Now, reboot your computer and try running ALSA and PulseAudio applications at the same time. They both should produce sound simultaneously. | ||
+ | :Use {{Pkg|pavucontrol}} to control PulseAudio volume if needed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | === OSS === | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are multiple ways of making OSS-only programs output to PulseAudio: | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== ossp ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Install {{Pkg|ossp}} package and start {{ic|osspd.service}}. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== padsp wrapper ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Programs using OSS can work with PulseAudio by starting it with padsp (included with PulseAudio): | ||
$ padsp OSSprogram | $ padsp OSSprogram | ||
+ | |||
A few examples: | A few examples: | ||
+ | |||
$ padsp aumix | $ padsp aumix | ||
$ padsp sox foo.wav -t ossdsp /dev/dsp | $ padsp sox foo.wav -t ossdsp /dev/dsp | ||
− | + | You can also add a custom wrapper script like this: | |
− | {{hc|/usr/bin/OSSProgram|<nowiki> | + | |
+ | {{hc|/usr/local/bin/OSSProgram|<nowiki> | ||
#!/bin/sh | #!/bin/sh | ||
− | + | exec padsp /usr/bin/OSSprogram "$@" | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
</nowiki>}} | </nowiki>}} | ||
− | + | Make sure {{ic|/usr/local/bin}} comes before {{ic|/usr/bin}} in your '''PATH'''. | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | === GStreamer === | |
− | + | ||
+ | Install {{Pkg|gst-plugins-good}}, or {{AUR|gstreamer0.10-good-plugins}} if your intended program has a legacy [[GStreamer]] implementation. | ||
+ | |||
+ | === OpenAL === | ||
− | |||
OpenAL Soft should use PulseAudio by default, but can be explicitly configured to do so: {{hc|/etc/openal/alsoft.conf|2=drivers=pulse,alsa}} | OpenAL Soft should use PulseAudio by default, but can be explicitly configured to do so: {{hc|/etc/openal/alsoft.conf|2=drivers=pulse,alsa}} | ||
− | ===libao=== | + | === libao === |
+ | |||
Edit the libao configuration file: | Edit the libao configuration file: | ||
{{hc|/etc/libao.conf|2=default_driver=pulse}} | {{hc|/etc/libao.conf|2=default_driver=pulse}} | ||
+ | Be sure to remove the {{ic|1=dev=default}} option of the alsa driver or adjust it to specify a specific Pulse sink name or number. | ||
− | + | {{Note|You could possibly also keep the libao standard of outputting to the ''alsa'' driver and its default device if you install {{pkg|pulseaudio-alsa}} since the ALSA default device then '''is''' PulseAudio.}} | |
− | |||
− | == | + | == Equalizer == |
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | {{Warning|The equalizer module is considered unstable and might be removed from PulseAudio. For more, see the [https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/pulseaudio-discuss/2014-March/020174.html mailing list].}} | |
− | + | PulseAudio has an integrated 10-band equalizer system. In order to use the equalizer do the following: | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | Install {{Pkg|pulseaudio-equalizer}}: | |
− | |||
− | + | === Load equalizer sink and dbus-protocol module === | |
− | |||
− | + | $ pactl load-module module-equalizer-sink | |
− | + | $ pactl load-module module-dbus-protocol | |
− | === | + | === GUI front-end === |
− | |||
− | + | run: | |
− | + | $ qpaeq | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | {{Note|If qpaeq has no effect, install {{pkg|pavucontrol}} and change "ALSA Playback on" to "FFT based equalizer on ..." while the media player is running.}} | |
− | |||
− | + | === Load equalizer and dbus module on every boot === | |
− | + | Edit the {{ic|/etc/pulse/default.pa}} or {{ic|~/.config/pulse/default.pa}} file with your favorite editor and append the following lines: | |
− | + | ### Load the integrated PulseAudio equalizer and D-Bus module | |
+ | load-module module-equalizer-sink | ||
+ | load-module module-dbus-protocol | ||
− | + | {{Note|The equalizer sink needs to be loaded after the master sink is already available.}} | |
− | |||
− | == | + | === Alternative equalizers === |
− | == | ||
− | |||
− | + | {{AUR|pulseaudio-equalizer-ladspa}} (based on {{Pkg|swh-plugins}}) can be used as an alternative to {{Pkg|pulseaudio-equalizer}}. | |
− | |||
− | + | {{AUR|pulseeffects}} applies peak limiting, compression, reverberation, auto volume and 15 bands equalization to Pulseaudio applications output. | |
− | |||
− | === | + | == Applications == |
− | |||
− | |||
− | === | + | === QEMU === |
− | |||
− | + | Refer to [[QEMU#Host]] for a detailed guide on how to configure pulseaudio within [[QEMU]]. | |
− | |||
− | === | + | === AlsaMixer.app === |
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | Make {{AUR|alsamixer.app}} dockapp for the {{AUR|windowmaker}} use pulseaudio, e.g. | |
− | + | $ AlsaMixer.app --device pulse | |
− | + | Here is a two examples where the first one is for ALSA and the other one is for pulseaudio. You can run multiple instances of it. Use the {{ic|-w}} option to choose which of the control buttons to bind to the mouse wheel. | |
− | + | # AlsaMixer.app -3 Mic -1 Master -2 PCM --card 0 -w 1 | |
+ | # AlsaMixer.app --device pulse -1 Capture -2 Master -w 2 | ||
− | + | {{Note|It can use only those output sinks that set as default.}} | |
− | {{Note| | ||
− | ==== | + | === XMMS2 === |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | Make | + | Make it switch to pulseaudio output |
+ | $ nyxmms2 server config output.plugin pulse | ||
+ | and to alsa | ||
+ | $ nyxmms2 server config output.plugin alsa | ||
+ | To make xmms2 use a different output sink, e.g. | ||
+ | $ nyxmms2 server config pulse.sink alsa_output.pci-0000_04_01.0.analog-stereo.monitor | ||
− | + | See also the official guide [https://xmms2.org/wiki/Using_the_application]. | |
− | |||
− | + | === KDE Plasma Workspaces and Qt4 === | |
− | + | PulseAudio will automatically be used by KDE/Qt4 applications. It is supported by default in the KDE sound mixer. For more information see the [https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/Desktops/KDE/ KDE page in the PulseAudio wiki]. | |
− | + | One useful tidbit from that page is that {{ic|load-module module-device-manager}} should be loaded. This usually happens automatically at login through the script {{ic|/usr/bin/start-pulseaudio-x11}}; if you find that the module is not loaded automatically you can consider adding it manually to {{ic|/etc/pulse/default.pa}}. See [[#Switch on connect]] for possible conflicts with the {{ic|module-switch-on-connect}}. | |
− | |||
− | + | If the phonon-gstreamer backend is used for Phonon, GStreamer should also be configured as described in [[#GStreamer]]. | |
− | |||
− | + | === Audacious === | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | [ | + | [[Audacious]] natively supports PulseAudio. In order to use it, set Audacious Preferences -> Audio -> Current output plugin to 'PulseAudio Output Plugin'. |
− | === | + | === Music Player Daemon (MPD) === |
− | |||
− | + | [http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/PulseAudio configure] [[MPD]] to use PulseAudio. See also [[MPD/Tips and Tricks#PulseAudio]]. | |
− | |||
− | === | + | === MPlayer === |
− | |||
− | + | [[MPlayer]] natively supports PulseAudio output with the {{ic|-ao pulse}} option. It can also be configured to default to PulseAudio output, in {{ic|~/.mplayer/config}} for per-user, or {{ic|/etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf}} for system-wide: | |
− | + | {{hc|/etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf|2=ao=pulse}} | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | === | + | === guvcview === |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | {{Pkg|guvcview}} when using the PulseAudio input from a [[Webcam]] may have the audio input suspended resulting in no audio being recorded. You can check this by executing: | |
− | + | $ pactl list sources | |
− | |||
− | $ | ||
− | + | If the audio source is "suspended" then modifying the following line in {{ic|/etc/pulse/default.pa}} and changing: | |
− | |||
− | + | load-module module-suspend-on-idle | |
+ | to | ||
+ | #load-module module-suspend-on-idle | ||
− | + | And then either restarting PulseAudio or your computer will only idle the input source instead of suspending it. guvcview will then correctly record audio from the device. | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | == Networked audio == | |
− | + | {{Expansion|please allow for some time for me to port the most important information here -- [[User:Nodiscc|Nodiscc]]|Talk:PulseAudio#Networked_audio}} | |
+ | Play sound through the outputs of another computer on the network | ||
− | === | + | === Basic setup with direct connection === |
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | ===== On the server ===== | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | Edit {{ic|~/.config/pulse/default.pa}} or {{ic|/etc/pulse/default.pa}} (or {{ic|/etc/pulse/system.pa}} if PulseAudio is started in system mode) and add the following line: | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | load-module module-native-protocol-tcp auth-ip-acl=127.0.0.1;172.16.0.0/16 | |
− | + | Here only client from the IPs or IPs range specified here can stream sound. | |
− | + | To allow access from everywhere: | |
− | + | load-module module-native-protocol-tcp auth-anonymous=true | |
− | + | {{Note| If {{ic|auth-ip-acl}} neither {{ic|auth-anonymous}} are specified, authentification is done via {{ic|~/.pulse-cookie}} which must be the same on clients and server.}} | |
− | + | By default PulseAudio listens on port {{ic|tcp/4713}} for incoming connections, you may need to open this port in your [[firewall]]. | |
− | |||
− | + | ===== On the client ===== | |
− | Edit | + | Edit {{ic|~/.config/pulse/client.conf}} or {{ic|/etc/pulse/client.conf}}, to respectively apply this directive to one user or to all, and add : |
− | + | default-server = ''server-address'' | |
− | |||
− | + | ''server-address'' can be a simple domain-name or IPv4, for more see [https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/Documentation/User/ServerStrings/ the documentation] | |
− | + | It is also possible to set the server address in the environment variable {{ic|$PULSE_SERVER}}. | |
− | |||
+ | == Tips and tricks == | ||
− | + | {{Merge|PulseAudio/Examples|Same topic.}} | |
− | |||
− | + | === Keyboard volume control === | |
− | + | Map the following commands to your volume keys: {{ic|XF86AudioRaiseVolume}}, {{ic|XF86AudioLowerVolume}}, {{ic|XF86AudioMute}}. See [[Extra keyboard keys in Xorg]] for details. | |
− | |||
− | + | First find out which sink corresponds to the audio output you'd like to control. | |
+ | To list available sinks: | ||
+ | pactl list sinks short | ||
+ | Suppose sink 0 is to be used, to raise the volume: | ||
+ | sh -c "pactl set-sink-mute 0 false ; pactl set-sink-volume 0 +5%" | ||
− | + | To lower the volume: | |
+ | sh -c "pactl set-sink-mute 0 false ; pactl set-sink-volume 0 -5%" | ||
− | + | To mute/unmute the volume: | |
− | + | pactl set-sink-mute 0 toggle | |
− | + | To mute/unmute the microphone: | |
+ | pactl set-source-mute 1 toggle | ||
− | + | {{Tip|To have keyboard shortcuts operate always on the default sink, specify {{ic|@DEFAULT_SINK@}} as the sink number, for example {{ic|pactl set-sink-mute @DEFAULT_SINK@ toggle}}.}} | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | === Play sound from a non-interactive shell (systemd service, cron) === | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | Set {{ic|XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}} before the command (replace {{ic|''user_id''}} with the ID of the user running PulseAudio): | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/''user_id'' paplay /usr/share/sounds/freedesktop/stereo/complete.oga | |
− | |||
− | + | Or use {{ic|machinectl}}: | |
− | = | + | # machinectl shell .host --uid=''user_id'' /usr/bin/paplay /usr/share/sounds/freedesktop/stereo/complete.oga |
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | === X11 Bell Events === | |
− | + | To get pulseaudio to handle X11 bell events, run the following commands after the X11 session has been started: | |
− | |||
− | + | pactl upload-sample /usr/share/sounds/freedesktop/stereo/bell.oga x11-bell | |
− | + | pactl load-module module-x11-bell sample=x11-bell display=$DISPLAY | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | To adjust the volume of the X11 bell, run the following command: | |
− | + | xset b 100 | |
− | + | 100 is a percentage. This requires the {{Pkg|xorg-xset}} package. See [[Autostarting]] for a way to run these commands automatically when the X11 session is started. | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | === Switch on connect === | |
− | + | This is a module used to switch the output sound to the newly connected device. For example, if you plug in a USB headset, the output will be switched to that. If you unplug it, the output will be set back to the last device. This used to be quite buggy but got a lot of attention in PulseAudio 8.0 and should work quite well now. | |
− | you | ||
− | + | If you just want to test the module then you can load it at runtime by calling: | |
− | + | $ pactl load-module module-switch-on-connect | |
− | |||
− | + | If you want to make the change persistent you will have to add it to your local pulseaudio settings or to /etc/pulse/default.pa (system wide effect). In either case, add this line: | |
− | + | load-module module-switch-on-connect | |
− | load-module module- | ||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | {{Accuracy|Editing {{ic|/usr/bin/start-pulseaudio-x11}} will not survive package upgrade. The offending module can be unloaded in the config before loading {{ic|module-switch-on-connect}}, see [[Talk:Bluetooth_headset#GDMs_pulseaudio_instance_captures_bluetooth_headset]].}} | |
− | |||
− | + | On KDE/Plasma5 you should furthermore disable module-device-manager. As soon as Plasma5 is started it loads (via start-pulseaudio-x11) the module module-device-manager for pulseaudio to manage the devices. But that module apparently conflicts with module-switch-on-connect. Therefore you should disable that module by editing /bin/start-pulseaudio-x11 and commenting the lines for KDE. Simply logout and login again and in order to renew your pulseaudio session. On connect switching should now work properly. | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | ===Script for switching analogic outputs=== | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | Some sound cards present the option of multiple analog outputs, being switchable through using Pulseaudio profiles. But switching manually can become a chore, so you can use the following commands to switch it: | |
+ | $ pactl set-sink-port 'number of the card' 'port' | ||
− | + | This will set the default output to whatever port you chose. | |
− | + | Example: | |
+ | $ pactl set-sink-port 0 "analog-output;output-speaker" | ||
− | + | The values can be easily obtained using: | |
− | + | $ pactl list | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | Current output can be obtained through: | |
+ | $ pactl list sinks | grep "active profile"| cut -d ' ' -f 3- | ||
− | + | This process can be automated through a simple script. This script then can be given a shortcut by the user: | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | {{hc|~/pa.sh (or anything the user wants)|<nowiki> | |
− | + | #!/bin/bash | |
+ | # This script uses kdialog notification to warn the user of the currently swapped to profile. User could adapt it to their needs or change it. | ||
− | + | CURRENT_PROFILE=$(pactl list sinks | grep "active profile"| cut -d ' ' -f 3-) | |
− | |||
− | + | if [ "$CURRENT_PROFILE" = "analog-output;output-speaker" ] ; then | |
− | + | pactl set-sink-port 0 "analog-output;output-headphones-1" | |
− | output | + | kdialog --title "Pulseaudio" --passivepopup "Headphone" 2 & |
− | + | else | |
− | + | pactl set-sink-port 0 "analog-output;output-speaker" | |
− | + | kdialog --title "Pulseaudio" --passivepopup "Speaker" 2 & | |
− | + | fi | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
</nowiki>}} | </nowiki>}} | ||
− | + | This script is intended to swap between two profiles. First checking the current profile then swapping it. Users are required to change the field 'active profile' according to the language pactl reports. Users might need to change the number of the card and the output to fit their machine. | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | == Troubleshooting == | |
− | |||
− | + | See [[PulseAudio/Troubleshooting]]. | |
− | + | == See also == | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | * [https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/ PulseAudio official website], including documentation | |
− | *[ | + | * [https://gavv.github.io/blog/pulseaudio-under-the-hood/ Pulseaudio under the hood] |
− | *[ | ||
− | |||
− |
Latest revision as of 16:51, 14 April 2018
PulseAudio PulseAudio is a general purpose sound server intended to run as a middleware between your applications and your hardware devices, either using ALSA or OSS. It also offers easy network streaming accross local devices using Avahi if enabled. While its main purpose is to ease audio configuration, its modular design allows more advanced users to configure the daemon precisely to best suit their needs.
libalsa
.[1] PulseAudio builds only on the kernel component, but offers compatibility with libalsa
through pulseaudio-alsa.[2]Contents
Installation
Install the pulseaudio package.
- For PulseAudio to manage ALSA as well, install the pulseaudio-alsa package, see #ALSA.
- For bluetooth support (Bluez), install the pulseaudio-bluetooth package, see bluetooth headset page.
- For equalizer sink (qpaeq), install the pulseaudio-equalizer package.
- For GConf support (paprefs), install the pulseaudio-gconf package.
- For JACK sink, source and jackdbus detection, install the pulseaudio-jack package.
- For infrared (LIRC) volume control, install the pulseaudio-lirc package.
- For Zeroconf (Avahi/DNS-SD) support, install the pulseaudio-zeroconf package.
Front-ends
There are a number of front-ends available for controlling the PulseAudio daemon:
- For graphical configuration/volume control, install the pavucontrol or pavucontrol-qt package.
- For graphical general daemon configuration, install the paprefs package.
- For console (CLI) mixers, install the ponymix or pamixer package.
- For console (curses) mixer, install the pulsemixerAUR package.
- For volume control via mapped keyboard keys, install the pulseaudio-ctlAUR, pavolume-gitAUR package.
- For system tray icon, install the volumeicon, pasystrayAUR, pasystray-gitAUR or pasystray-gtk2-standaloneAUR package.
- Tip: The non-standalone versions of
pasystray
can install both GTK2 and GTK3 versions and requires choosing which during build. The standalone versions install a single version.
- For KDE Framework 5 Plasma applet, install the kmix and plasma-pa package.
- For Xfce 4 plugin: xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin, pa-applet-gitAUR package.
- For web volume control, see PaWebControl.
Configuration
By default, PulseAudio is configured to automatically detect all sound cards and manage them. It takes control of all detected ALSA devices and redirects all audio streams to itself, making the PulseAudio daemon the central configuration point. The daemon should work mostly out of the box, only requiring a few minor tweaks.
While PulseAudio usually runs fine out of the box and requires only minimal configuration, advanced users can change almost every aspect of the daemon by either altering the default configuration file to disable modules or writing your own from scratch.
PulseAudio runs as a server daemon that can run either system-wide or on per-user basis using a client/server architecture. The daemon by itself does nothing without its modules except to provide an API and host dynamically loaded modules. The audio routing and processing tasks are all handled by various modules, including PulseAudio's native protocol itself (provided by module-native-protocol-unix). Clients reach the server through one of many protocol modules that will accept audio from external sources, route it through PulseAudio and eventually have it go out through a final other module. The output module does not have to be an actual sound output: it can dump the stream into a file, stream it to a broadcasting server such as Icecast, or even just discard it.
You can find a detailed list of all available modules at Pulseaudio Loadable Modules. To enable them you can just add a line load-module <module-name-from-list>
to ~/.config/pulse/default.pa
.
Configuration files
PulseAudio will first look for configuration files in the home directory ~/.config/pulse
, then system-wide /etc/pulse
.
- It is strongly suggested not to edit system-wide configuration files, but rather edit user ones. Create the
~/.config/pulse
directory, then copy the system configuration files into it and edit according to your need. - Make sure you keep user configuration in sync with changes to the packaged files in
/etc/pulse/
. Otherwise, PulseAudio may refuse to start due to configuration errors. - There is usually no need to add your user to the
audio
group, as PulseAudio uses udev and logind to give access dynamically to the currently "active" user. Exceptions would include running the machine headless so that there is no currently "active" user.
daemon.conf
This is the main configuration file to configure the daemon itself. It defines base settings like the default sample rates used by modules, resampling methods, realtime scheduling and various other settings related to the server process. These can not be changed at runtime without restarting the PulseAudio daemon. The defaults are sensible for most users, see the pulse-daemon.conf(5) manpage for additional information. Boolean options accepts any of these: true
, yes
, on
and 1
as well as false
, no
, off
and 0
.
Option | Description | daemonize | Controls whether the server will daemonize itself and return. Set to no when debugging so you can see the debugging information on the terminal.
|
resample-method | Which resampler to use when audio with incompatible sample rates needs to be passed between modules (e.g. playback of 96kHz audio on hardware which only supports 48kHz). The available resamplers can be listed with $ pulseaudio --dump-resample-methods . Choose the best tradeoff between CPU usage and audio quality for the present use-case. Tip: In some cases PulseAudio will generate a high CPU load. This can happen when multiple streams are resampled (individually). If this is a common use-case in a workflow, it should be considered to create an additional sink at a matching sample rate which can then be fed into the main sink, resampling only once.
|
avoid-resampling | With avoid-resampling = yes , PulseAudio automatically configures the hardware to the sample rate which the application uses, if the hardware supports this sample rate (needs PA 11 or higher)
Warning: Enabling this feature might cause audio distortion, therefore it is disabled by default, see the release notes for more information.
|
enable-remixing | When the input and output have a different channel count (for example, outputting a 6 channel movie into a stereo sink), pulse can either remix all the channels (default, yes ) or just trivially map the channels by their name (left goes to left, right to right, all others ignored) when no
|
system-instance | If set to yes , run the daemon as a system-wide instance. Highly discouraged as it can introduce security issues. Useful on Multiseat systems, or headless systems that have no real local users. Defaults to no .
|
flat-volumes | flat-volumes scales the device-volume with the volume of the "loudest" application. For example, raising the VoIP call volume will raise the hardware volume and adjust the music-player volume so it stays where it was, without having to lower the volume of the music-player manually. Defaults to yes upstream, but to no within Arch. Note: The default behavior upstream can sometimes be confusing and some applications, unaware of this feature, can set their volume to 100% at startup, potentially blowing your speakers or your ears. This is why Arch defaults to the classic (ALSA) behavior by setting this to
no . |
realtime-scheduling | If your kernel supports realtime scheduling (for instance, Kernels#-rt[broken link: invalid section] or Kernels#-ck[broken link: invalid section]), set this to yes to ensure PulseAudio can deliver low-latency glitch-free playback. You can adjust realtime-priority as well to have it use the correct priority, especially when JACK is also running on the system.
|
nice-level | Since PulseAudio runs in userspace and involves inter-process communication, audio can be subject to dropouts if the daemon doesn't have enough CPU time to process the audio. The default usually is enough, but can be tweaked to give pulse the wanted priority over (or below) other applications. | exit-idle-time | If you want to run PulseAudio only when needed and use ALSA otherwise, you can set a delay in seconds after which the daemon will automatically shutdown after all clients are disconnected. Set it to -1 to disable this feature. | log-level | When debugging, you may want to increase the logging level of the daemon to see exactly why a specific module fails to load. High logging levels will sometimes print useful information such as detected minimum latency for the system, which can then be used to tweak default-fragments and default-fragment-size-msec .
|
default-sample-format | Usually doesn't need change, but if your sound card's native format is diffent performance and quality can be improved by setting the right format here. | default-sample-rate | The default sample rate user by pulse unless overriden at module level. Change this if your sound card doesn't support 44100Hz or if you wish to upsample all audio. See previous note about CPU usage. | alternate-sample-rate | To fix a common limitation where movies at 48000Hz were needlessly downsampled to 44100Hz, some modules support changing their sample rate dynamically to avoid resampling when possible. See manual for more in-depth information. Usually don't need any change. | default-channels | The default number of channels when not specified. Usually don't need any change as you can configure more channels on per-module basis. | default-fragments | Audio samples are split into multiple fragments of default-fragment-size-msec each. The larger the buffer is, the less likely audio will skip when the system is overloaded. On the downside this will increase the overall latency. Increase this value if you have issues.
|
default-fragment-size-msec | The size in milliseconds of each fragment. This is the amount of data that will be processed at once by the daemon. TODO: Verify |
---|
default.pa
This file is a startup script and is used to configure modules. It is actually parsed and read after the daemon has finished initializing and additional commands can be sent at runtime using $ pactl
or $ pacmd
. The startup script can also be provided on the command line by starting PulseAudio in a terminal using $ pulseaudio -nC
. This will make the daemon load the CLI module and will accept the configuration directly from the command line, and output resulting information or error messages on the same terminal. This can be useful when debugging the daemon or just to test various modules before setting them permanently on disk. The manual page is quite self-explanatory, consult pulse-cli-syntax(5) for the details of the syntax.
- Rather than being a complete copy,
~/.config/pulse/default.pa
can start with the line.include /etc/pulse/default.pa
and then just override the defaults. - Run
$ pacmd list-sinks|egrep -i 'index:|name:'
to list available sinks. The present default sink is marked with an asterisk. - Edit
~/.config/pulse/default.pa
to insert/alter the set-default-sink command using the sink's name as the numbering cannot be guaranteed repeatable.
client.conf
This is the configuration file read by every PulseAudio client application. It is used to configure runtime options for individual clients. It can be used to set and configure the default sink and source statically as well as allowing (or disallowing) clients to automatically start the server if not currently running.
Configuration command
The main command to configure a server during runtime is $ pacmd
. Run $ pacmd --help
for a list options, or just run $ pacmd
to enter the shell interactive mode and Ctrl+d
to exit. All modifications will immediately be applied.
Once your new settings have been tested and meet your needs, edit the default.pa
accordingly to make the change persistent. See PulseAudio/Examples for some basic settings.
load-module module-default-device-restore
line in the default.pa
file untouched. It will allow you to restart the server in its default state, thus dismissing any wrong setting.It is important to understand that the "sources" (processes, capture devices) and "sinks" (sound cards, servers, other processes) accessible and selectable through PulseAudio depend upon the current hardware "Profile" selected. These "Profiles" are those ALSA "pcms" listed by the command aplay -L
, and more specifically by the command pacmd list-cards
, which will include a line "index:", a list beginning "profiles:", and a line "active profile: <...>" in the output, among other things. "Profiles" correspond to different card input/output configurations, notably the number of available input/output channels.
The "active profile" can be set with the command pacmd set-card-profile INDEX PROFILE
, with no comma separating INDEX and PROFILE, where INDEX is just the number on the line "index:" and a PROFILE name is everything shown from the beginning of any line under "profile:" to just before the colon and first space, as shown by the command pacmd list-cards
. For instance, pacmd set-card-profile 0 output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo
.
It may be easier to select a "Profile" with a graphical tool like pavucontrol
, under the "Configuration" tab, or KDE System Settings, "Multimedia/Audio and Video Settings", under the "Audio Hardware Setup" tab. Each audio "Card", which are those devices listed by the command aplay -l
, or again by the command pacmd list-cards
, will have its own selectable "Profile". When a "Profile" has been selected, the then available "sources" and "sinks" can be seen by using the commands pacmd list-sources
and pacmd list-sinks
. Note that the "index" of the available sources and sinks will change each time a card profile is changed.
The selected "Profile" can be an issue for some applications, especially the Adobe Flash players, typically /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so
and /usr/lib/PepperFlash/libpepflashplayer.so
. Often, these Flash players will only work when one of the Stereo profiles is selected, and otherwise, will play video with no sound, or will simply "crash". When all else fails, you might try selecting a different profile.
Of course, when configuring some variation of Surround Sound in PulseAudio, the appropriate Surround profile will have to be selected, before Surround Sound will work, or in order to do things like remap the speaker channels.
Running
PulseAudio on Arch has pulseaudio.socket
enabled by default for the systemd/User instance. This means that PulseAudio will automatically start when needed.
- To disable
pulseaudio.socket
, make sure that$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/systemd/user/
exists and runsystemctl --user mask pulseaudio.socket
. - Many desktop environments autostart programs based on desktop files in the
/etc/xdg/autostart/
directory. In this case, PulseAudio will be launched automatically regardless of the socket activation status.
For more information, see PulseAudio: Running.
Back-end configuration
ALSA
If you have applications that do not support PulseAudio explicitly but rely on ALSA, these applications will try to access the sound card directly via ALSA and will therefore bypass PulseAudio. PulseAudio will thus not have access to the sound card any more. As a result, all applications relying on PulseAudio will not be working any more, leading to this issue. To prevent this, you will need to install the pulseaudio-alsa package. It contains the necessary /etc/asound.conf
for configuring ALSA to use PulseAudio. Also make sure that ~/.asoundrc
does not exist, as it would override the /etc/asound.conf
file.
Please also install lib32-libpulse and lib32-alsa-plugins if you run a x86_64 system and want to have sound for 32-bit multilib programs like Wine and Steam.
To prevent applications from using ALSA's OSS emulation and bypassing PulseAudio (thereby preventing other applications from playing sound), make sure the module snd_pcm_oss
is not being loaded at boot. If it is currently loaded (lsmod | grep oss
), disable it by executing:
# rmmod snd_pcm_oss
Expose PulseAudio sources, sinks and mixers to ALSA
Although pulseaudio-alsa contains the necessary configuration file to allow ALSA applications to use PulseAudio's default device, ALSA's pulse
plugin is more versatile than that:
~/.asoundrc (or /etc/asound.conf)
# Create an alsa input/output using specific PulseAudio sources/sinks pcm.pulse-example1 { type pulse device "my-combined-sink" # name of a source or sink fallback "pulse-example2" # if combined not available } pcm.pulse-example2 { type pulse device "other-sound-card" # name of a source or sink # example: device "alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo" } # Create an alsa mixer using specific PulseAudio sources/sinks # these can be tested with "alsamixer -D pulse-example3" ctl.pulse-example3 { type pulse device "my-output" # name of source or sink to control # example: always control the laptop speakers: # device "alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo" fallback "pulse-example4" # supports fallback too } # Mixers also can control a specific source and sink, separately: ctl.pulse-example4 { type pulse sink "my-usb-headphones" source "my-internal-mic" # example: output to HDMI, record using internal sink "alsa_output.pci-0000_01_00.1.hdmi-stereo-extra1" source "alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo" } # These can override the default mixer (example: for pnmixer integration) ctl.!default { type pulse sink "alsa_output.pci-0000_01_00.1.hdmi-stereo-extra1" source "alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo" }
The source code can be read to know all available options.
ALSA/dmix without grabbing hardware device
You may want to use ALSA directly in most of your applications while still being able to use applications which require PulseAudio at the same time. The following steps allow you to make PulseAudio use dmix instead of grabbing ALSA hardware device.
- Remove package pulseaudio-alsa, which provides compatibility layer between ALSA applications and PulseAudio. After this your ALSA apps will use ALSA directly without being hooked by Pulse.
- Edit
/etc/pulse/default.pa
.
- Find and uncomment lines which load back-end drivers. Add device parameters as follows. Then find and comment lines which load autodetect modules.
load-module module-alsa-sink device=dmix load-module module-alsa-source device=dsnoop # load-module module-udev-detect # load-module module-detect
- Optional: If you use kmix you may want to control ALSA volume instead of PulseAudio volume:
$ echo export KMIX_PULSEAUDIO_DISABLE=1 > ~/.kde4/env/kmix_disable_pulse.sh $ chmod +x ~/.kde4/env/kmix_disable_pulse.sh
- Now, reboot your computer and try running ALSA and PulseAudio applications at the same time. They both should produce sound simultaneously.
- Use pavucontrol to control PulseAudio volume if needed.
OSS
There are multiple ways of making OSS-only programs output to PulseAudio:
ossp
Install ossp package and start osspd.service
.
padsp wrapper
Programs using OSS can work with PulseAudio by starting it with padsp (included with PulseAudio):
$ padsp OSSprogram
A few examples:
$ padsp aumix $ padsp sox foo.wav -t ossdsp /dev/dsp
You can also add a custom wrapper script like this:
/usr/local/bin/OSSProgram
#!/bin/sh exec padsp /usr/bin/OSSprogram "$@"
Make sure /usr/local/bin
comes before /usr/bin
in your PATH.
GStreamer
Install gst-plugins-good, or gstreamer0.10-good-pluginsAUR if your intended program has a legacy GStreamer implementation.
OpenAL
OpenAL Soft should use PulseAudio by default, but can be explicitly configured to do so:/etc/openal/alsoft.conf
drivers=pulse,alsa
libao
Edit the libao configuration file:
/etc/libao.conf
default_driver=pulse
Be sure to remove the dev=default
option of the alsa driver or adjust it to specify a specific Pulse sink name or number.
Equalizer
PulseAudio has an integrated 10-band equalizer system. In order to use the equalizer do the following:
Install pulseaudio-equalizer:
Load equalizer sink and dbus-protocol module
$ pactl load-module module-equalizer-sink $ pactl load-module module-dbus-protocol
GUI front-end
run:
$ qpaeq
Load equalizer and dbus module on every boot
Edit the /etc/pulse/default.pa
or ~/.config/pulse/default.pa
file with your favorite editor and append the following lines:
### Load the integrated PulseAudio equalizer and D-Bus module load-module module-equalizer-sink load-module module-dbus-protocol
Alternative equalizers
pulseaudio-equalizer-ladspaAUR (based on swh-plugins) can be used as an alternative to pulseaudio-equalizer.
pulseeffectsAUR applies peak limiting, compression, reverberation, auto volume and 15 bands equalization to Pulseaudio applications output.
Applications
QEMU
Refer to QEMU#Host for a detailed guide on how to configure pulseaudio within QEMU.
AlsaMixer.app
Make alsamixer.appAUR dockapp for the windowmakerAUR use pulseaudio, e.g.
$ AlsaMixer.app --device pulse
Here is a two examples where the first one is for ALSA and the other one is for pulseaudio. You can run multiple instances of it. Use the -w
option to choose which of the control buttons to bind to the mouse wheel.
# AlsaMixer.app -3 Mic -1 Master -2 PCM --card 0 -w 1 # AlsaMixer.app --device pulse -1 Capture -2 Master -w 2
XMMS2
Make it switch to pulseaudio output
$ nyxmms2 server config output.plugin pulse
and to alsa
$ nyxmms2 server config output.plugin alsa
To make xmms2 use a different output sink, e.g.
$ nyxmms2 server config pulse.sink alsa_output.pci-0000_04_01.0.analog-stereo.monitor
See also the official guide [3].
KDE Plasma Workspaces and Qt4
PulseAudio will automatically be used by KDE/Qt4 applications. It is supported by default in the KDE sound mixer. For more information see the KDE page in the PulseAudio wiki.
One useful tidbit from that page is that load-module module-device-manager
should be loaded. This usually happens automatically at login through the script /usr/bin/start-pulseaudio-x11
; if you find that the module is not loaded automatically you can consider adding it manually to /etc/pulse/default.pa
. See #Switch on connect for possible conflicts with the module-switch-on-connect
.
If the phonon-gstreamer backend is used for Phonon, GStreamer should also be configured as described in #GStreamer.
Audacious
Audacious natively supports PulseAudio. In order to use it, set Audacious Preferences -> Audio -> Current output plugin to 'PulseAudio Output Plugin'.
Music Player Daemon (MPD)
configure MPD to use PulseAudio. See also MPD/Tips and Tricks#PulseAudio.
MPlayer
MPlayer natively supports PulseAudio output with the -ao pulse
option. It can also be configured to default to PulseAudio output, in ~/.mplayer/config
for per-user, or /etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf
for system-wide:
/etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf
ao=pulse
guvcview
guvcview when using the PulseAudio input from a Webcam may have the audio input suspended resulting in no audio being recorded. You can check this by executing:
$ pactl list sources
If the audio source is "suspended" then modifying the following line in /etc/pulse/default.pa
and changing:
load-module module-suspend-on-idle
to
#load-module module-suspend-on-idle
And then either restarting PulseAudio or your computer will only idle the input source instead of suspending it. guvcview will then correctly record audio from the device.
Networked audio
Play sound through the outputs of another computer on the network
Basic setup with direct connection
On the server
Edit ~/.config/pulse/default.pa
or /etc/pulse/default.pa
(or /etc/pulse/system.pa
if PulseAudio is started in system mode) and add the following line:
load-module module-native-protocol-tcp auth-ip-acl=127.0.0.1;172.16.0.0/16
Here only client from the IPs or IPs range specified here can stream sound.
To allow access from everywhere:
load-module module-native-protocol-tcp auth-anonymous=true
auth-ip-acl
neither auth-anonymous
are specified, authentification is done via ~/.pulse-cookie
which must be the same on clients and server.By default PulseAudio listens on port tcp/4713
for incoming connections, you may need to open this port in your firewall.
On the client
Edit ~/.config/pulse/client.conf
or /etc/pulse/client.conf
, to respectively apply this directive to one user or to all, and add :
default-server = server-address
server-address can be a simple domain-name or IPv4, for more see the documentation
It is also possible to set the server address in the environment variable $PULSE_SERVER
.
Tips and tricks
Keyboard volume control
Map the following commands to your volume keys: XF86AudioRaiseVolume
, XF86AudioLowerVolume
, XF86AudioMute
. See Extra keyboard keys in Xorg for details.
First find out which sink corresponds to the audio output you'd like to control. To list available sinks:
pactl list sinks short
Suppose sink 0 is to be used, to raise the volume:
sh -c "pactl set-sink-mute 0 false ; pactl set-sink-volume 0 +5%"
To lower the volume:
sh -c "pactl set-sink-mute 0 false ; pactl set-sink-volume 0 -5%"
To mute/unmute the volume:
pactl set-sink-mute 0 toggle
To mute/unmute the microphone:
pactl set-source-mute 1 toggle
@DEFAULT_SINK@
as the sink number, for example pactl set-sink-mute @DEFAULT_SINK@ toggle
.Play sound from a non-interactive shell (systemd service, cron)
Set XDG_RUNTIME_DIR
before the command (replace user_id
with the ID of the user running PulseAudio):
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/user_id paplay /usr/share/sounds/freedesktop/stereo/complete.oga
Or use machinectl
:
# machinectl shell .host --uid=user_id /usr/bin/paplay /usr/share/sounds/freedesktop/stereo/complete.oga
X11 Bell Events
To get pulseaudio to handle X11 bell events, run the following commands after the X11 session has been started:
pactl upload-sample /usr/share/sounds/freedesktop/stereo/bell.oga x11-bell pactl load-module module-x11-bell sample=x11-bell display=$DISPLAY
To adjust the volume of the X11 bell, run the following command:
xset b 100
100 is a percentage. This requires the xorg-xset package. See Autostarting for a way to run these commands automatically when the X11 session is started.
Switch on connect
This is a module used to switch the output sound to the newly connected device. For example, if you plug in a USB headset, the output will be switched to that. If you unplug it, the output will be set back to the last device. This used to be quite buggy but got a lot of attention in PulseAudio 8.0 and should work quite well now.
If you just want to test the module then you can load it at runtime by calling:
$ pactl load-module module-switch-on-connect
If you want to make the change persistent you will have to add it to your local pulseaudio settings or to /etc/pulse/default.pa (system wide effect). In either case, add this line:
load-module module-switch-on-connect
On KDE/Plasma5 you should furthermore disable module-device-manager. As soon as Plasma5 is started it loads (via start-pulseaudio-x11) the module module-device-manager for pulseaudio to manage the devices. But that module apparently conflicts with module-switch-on-connect. Therefore you should disable that module by editing /bin/start-pulseaudio-x11 and commenting the lines for KDE. Simply logout and login again and in order to renew your pulseaudio session. On connect switching should now work properly.
Script for switching analogic outputs
Some sound cards present the option of multiple analog outputs, being switchable through using Pulseaudio profiles. But switching manually can become a chore, so you can use the following commands to switch it:
$ pactl set-sink-port 'number of the card' 'port'
This will set the default output to whatever port you chose. Example:
$ pactl set-sink-port 0 "analog-output;output-speaker"
The values can be easily obtained using:
$ pactl list
Current output can be obtained through:
$ pactl list sinks | grep "active profile"| cut -d ' ' -f 3-
This process can be automated through a simple script. This script then can be given a shortcut by the user:
~/pa.sh (or anything the user wants)
#!/bin/bash # This script uses kdialog notification to warn the user of the currently swapped to profile. User could adapt it to their needs or change it. CURRENT_PROFILE=$(pactl list sinks | grep "active profile"| cut -d ' ' -f 3-) if [ "$CURRENT_PROFILE" = "analog-output;output-speaker" ] ; then pactl set-sink-port 0 "analog-output;output-headphones-1" kdialog --title "Pulseaudio" --passivepopup "Headphone" 2 & else pactl set-sink-port 0 "analog-output;output-speaker" kdialog --title "Pulseaudio" --passivepopup "Speaker" 2 & fi
This script is intended to swap between two profiles. First checking the current profile then swapping it. Users are required to change the field 'active profile' according to the language pactl reports. Users might need to change the number of the card and the output to fit their machine.
Troubleshooting
See PulseAudio/Troubleshooting.
See also
- PulseAudio official website, including documentation
- Pulseaudio under the hood