pw-play(1)
Play audio files or streams using PipeWire audio server.
UbuntuDebianFedoraArch
Synopsis
pw-play [OPTION]... [FILE]...Description
pw-play is a simple command-line audio player for PipeWire, the modern audio server for Linux. It can play local audio files or stream audio from various sources, automatically detecting the format and routing through PipeWire's flexible audio graph.
The player supports common audio formats including WAV, FLAC, MP3, OGG, and others. It can connect to any PipeWire sink and provides basic playback control options from the command line.
Common options
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
-h, --help | Show help message and exit |
-v, --verbose | Enable verbose output for debugging |
--volume=VOLUME | Set playback volume (0.0 to 1.0, default 0.7) |
-p, --playback | Force playback mode (default) |
-R, --remote=NAME | Connect to specific PipeWire remote instance |
--rate=RATE | Set sample rate in Hz |
--channels=CHANNELS | Set number of audio channels |
-q, --quiet | Suppress normal output messages |
Examples
Play a WAV file through the default PipeWire sink
pw-play song.wavPlay a FLAC file at 50% volume
pw-play --volume=0.5 music.flacPlay multiple audio files sequentially
pw-play file1.mp3 file2.mp3 file3.mp3Play an OGG file with verbose debugging output
pw-play -v song.ogg 2>&1Play audio file at 48 kHz sample rate
pw-play --rate=48000 audio.wav