pw-encplay
Play encoded audio streams through PipeWire
TLDR
SYNOPSIS
pw-encplay [options] [FILE | -]
DESCRIPTION
pw-encplay plays encoded (compressed) audio streams through a PipeWire server. It is a convenience wrapper for pw-cat in encoded playback mode, passing encoded audio data directly to the PipeWire graph without decoding it first.This enables passthrough of compressed audio formats (such as AC3, DTS, or AAC) to hardware decoders or receivers that support native decoding, preserving the original encoded stream quality.When - is given as the file, data is read from stdin.
PARAMETERS
--volume level
Stream volume (default 1.0).--rate hz
Sample rate in Hz (default 48000).--channels num
Number of audio channels (default 2).--channel-map map
Channel layout (e.g. stereo, surround-51, or custom FL,FR mapping).--format fmt
Sample format: u8, s8, s16, s24, s32, f32, f64 (default s16).--target value
Target node: auto, 0, or a specific node ID.--latency value
Node latency (default 100ms).-q, --quality level
Resampler quality (0-15, default 4).-R, --remote name
Connect to a specific PipeWire instance.-P, --properties json
Extra stream properties as a JSON object.-v, --verbose
Enable verbose output.-h, --help
Display help information.--version
Show version details.
CAVEATS
Requires a sink that supports the encoded format for passthrough playback. If the connected output does not support the format, no audio will be produced. Typically used with HDMI or S/PDIF outputs connected to AV receivers.
HISTORY
Part of PipeWire, the modern multimedia framework for Linux created by Wim Taymans at Red Hat. PipeWire was first released in 2017 and provides unified audio and video handling, replacing PulseAudio and JACK. The pw-cat family of tools provides simple command-line media playback and capture.
