AUDIOPLAY(1) User Commands AUDIOPLAY(1)

NAME

audioplay - play audio files

SYNOPSIS

audioplay [-iV] [-v vol] [-d dev] [file]...

DESCRIPTION

The audioplay utility copies the named audio files (or the standard
input if no filenames are present) to the audio device. If no input
file is specified and standard input is a tty, the program exits with
an error message.


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)
monaural 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

The following options are supported:

-d dev
Device: The dev argument specifies an alternate audio
device to which output should be directed. If the -d
option is not specified, the AUDIODEV environment variable
is consulted (see below). Otherwise, /dev/audio is used as
the default audio device.


-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 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.


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


-?
Help: Prints a command line usage message.

OPERANDS

file
File Specification: Audio files named on the command line are
played sequentially. If no filenames are present, the
standard input stream (if it is not a tty) is played (it,
too, must contain an audio file header). The special filename
- can 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).

USAGE

See largefile(7) for the description of the behavior of audioplay
when encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte (2^31
bytes).

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

AUDIODEV
The full path name of the audio device to write to, if
no -d argument is supplied. If the AUDIODEV variable is
not set, /dev/audio is used.


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

SEE ALSO

audioconvert(1), audiorecord(1), audio(4I), largefile(7)

BUGS

audioplay currently supports a limited set of audio format
conversions. If the audio file is not in a format supported by the
audio device, it must first be converted. For example, to convert to
voice format on the fly, use the command:

example% audioconvert -f voice myfile | audioplay


The format conversion is not always be able to keep up with the audio
output. If this is the case, you should convert to a temporary file
before playing the data.

February 8, 2020 AUDIOPLAY(1)