arecord

TLDR

Record in CD quality (finish with Ctrl+C)

$ arecord -vv -f cd [path/to/file.wav]

Record with a fixed duration of 10 seconds

$ arecord -vv -f cd -d 10 [path/to/file.wav]

Record and save as MP3 (via lame)

$ arecord -vv -f cd -t raw | lame -r - [path/to/file.mp3]

List all sound cards and digital audio devices

$ arecord -l

Allow interactive interface

$ arecord -i

Test microphone with a 5 second sample

$ arecord -d 5 test-mic.wav && aplay test-mic.wav && rm test-mic.wav

SYNOPSIS

arecord [-d duration] [-f format] [-r rate] [-c channels] [file]

DESCRIPTION

arecord is a command-line sound recorder for ALSA soundcard drivers. It records audio from sound cards and saves it in various formats including WAV, AU, and raw audio.

PARAMETERS

-d, --duration seconds

Stop recording after the specified number of seconds

-f, --format format

Sample format (cd, S16_LE, U8, etc.)

-r, --rate rate

Sampling rate in Hz

-c, --channels count

Number of channels (1 for mono, 2 for stereo)

-t, --file-type type

File type (wav, raw, au, voc)

-l, --list-devices

List all available recording devices

-L, --list-pcms

List all PCM devices

-D, --device name

Select PCM device by name

-i, --interactive

Allow interactive control (space/enter to pause/resume)

-v, --verbose

Verbose mode; use -vv for more verbosity

-q, --quiet

Quiet mode; suppress messages

CAVEATS

Requires ALSA drivers to be installed and configured. The cd format is shorthand for 16-bit signed little-endian, 44100 Hz, stereo.

HISTORY

Part of ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) utilities package, which replaced OSS as the standard Linux sound system.