.. _audio_outputs:

AUDIO OUTPUT DRIVERS
====================

Audio output drivers are interfaces to different audio output facilities. The
syntax is:

--ao=<driver1[:suboption1[=value]:...],driver2,...[,]>
    Specify a priority list of audio output drivers to be used.

If the list has a trailing ',' MPlayer will fall back on drivers not contained
in the list. Suboptions are optional and can mostly be omitted.

*NOTE*: See ``--ao=help`` for a list of compiled-in audio output drivers.

*EXAMPLE*:

    - ``--ao=alsa,oss,`` Try the ALSA driver, then the OSS driver, then others.
    - ``--ao=alsa:noblock:device=hw=0.3`` Sets noblock-mode and the device-name
      as first card, fourth device.

Available audio output drivers are:

alsa
    ALSA 0.9/1.x audio output driver

    noblock
        Sets noblock-mode.
    device=<device>
        Sets the device name. Replace any ',' with '.' and any ':' with '=' in
        the ALSA device name. For hwac3 output via S/PDIF, use an "iec958" or
        "spdif" device, unless you really know how to set it correctly.

oss
    OSS audio output driver

    <dsp-device>
        Sets the audio output device (default: ``/dev/dsp``).
    <mixer-device>
        Sets the audio mixer device (default: ``/dev/mixer``).
    <mixer-channel>
        Sets the audio mixer channel (default: pcm).

jack
    audio output through JACK (Jack Audio Connection Kit)

    port=<name>
        Connects to the ports with the given name (default: physical ports).
    name=<client
        Client name that is passed to JACK (default: MPlayer [<PID>]). Useful
        if you want to have certain connections established automatically.
    (no-)estimate
        Estimate the audio delay, supposed to make the video playback smoother
        (default: enabled).
    (no-)autostart
        Automatically start jackd if necessary (default: disabled). Note that
        this seems unreliable and will spam stdout with server messages.

coreaudio (Mac OS X only)
    native Mac OS X audio output driver

    device_id=<id>
        ID of output device to use (0 = default device)
    help
        List all available output devices with their IDs.

openal
    Experimental OpenAL audio output driver

pulse
    PulseAudio audio output driver

    [<host>][:<output sink>]
        Specify the host and optionally output sink to use. An empty <host>
        string uses a local connection, "localhost" uses network transfer
        (most likely not what you want).

dsound (Windows only)
    DirectX DirectSound audio output driver

    device=<devicenum>
        Sets the device number to use. Playing a file with ``-v`` will show a
        list of available devices.

v4l2 (requires Linux 2.6.22+ kernel)
    Audio output driver for V4L2 cards with hardware MPEG decoder.

null
    Produces no audio output but maintains video playback speed. Use
    ``--nosound`` for benchmarking.

pcm
    raw PCM/wave file writer audio output

    (no-)waveheader
        Include or do not include the wave header (default: included). When
        not included, raw PCM will be generated.
    file=<filename>
        Write the sound to <filename> instead of the default
        ``audiodump.wav``. If nowaveheader is specified, the default is
        ``audiodump.pcm``.

rsound
    audio output to an RSound daemon

    host=<name/path>
        Set the address of the server (default: localhost).  Can be either a
        network hostname for TCP connections or a Unix domain socket path
        starting with '/'.
    port=<number>
        Set the TCP port used for connecting to the server (default: 12345).
        Not used if connecting to a Unix domain socket.