AUDIO OUTPUT DRIVERS ==================== Audio output drivers are interfaces to different audio output facilities. The syntax is: ``--ao=`` Specify a priority list of audio output drivers to be used. If the list has a trailing ',', mpv will fall back on drivers not contained in the list. Suboptions are optional and can mostly be omitted. You can also set defaults for each driver. The defaults are applied before the normal driver parameters. ``--ao-defaults=`` Set defaults for each driver. .. note:: See ``--ao=help`` for a list of compiled-in audio output drivers. The driver ``--ao=alsa`` is preferred. ``--ao=pulse`` is preferred on systems where PulseAudio is used. On Windows, ``--ao=wasapi`` is preferred, though it might cause trouble sometimes, in which case ``--ao=dsound`` should be used. On BSD systems, ``--ao=oss`` or `--ao=sndio`` may work (the latter being experimental). On OSX systems, use ``--ao=coreaudio``. .. admonition:: Examples - ``--ao=alsa,oss,`` Try the ALSA driver, then the OSS driver, then others. - ``--ao=alsa:no-block:device=[hw:0,3]`` Sets noblock-mode and the device-name as first card, fourth device. Available audio output drivers are: ``alsa`` (Linux only) ALSA audio output driver ``device=`` Sets the device name. For ac3 output via S/PDIF, use an "iec958" or "spdif" device, unless you really know how to set it correctly. ``no-block`` Sets noblock-mode. ``resample=yes`` Enable ALSA resampling plugin. (This is disabled by default, because some drivers report incorrect audio delay in some cases.) ``mixer-device=`` Set the mixer device used with ``--no-softvol`` (default: ``default``). ``mixer-name=`` Set the name of the mixer element (default: ``Master``). This is for example ``PCM`` or ``Master``. ``mixer-index=`` Set the index of the mixer channel (default: 0). Consider the output of "``amixer scontrols``", then the index is the number that follows the name of the element. .. note:: MPlayer and mplayer2 required you to replace any ',' with '.' and any ':' with '=' in the ALSA device name. mpv does not do this anymore. Instead, quote the device name: ``--ao=alsa:device=[plug:surround50]`` Note that the ``[`` and ``]`` simply quote the device name. With some shells (like zsh), you have to quote the option string to prevent the shell from interpreting the brackets instead of passing them to mpv. ``oss`` OSS audio output driver ```` Sets the audio output device (default: ``/dev/dsp``). ```` Sets the audio mixer device (default: ``/dev/mixer``). ```` Sets the audio mixer channel (default: ``pcm``). Other valid values include **vol, pcm, line**. For a complete list of options look for ``SOUND_DEVICE_NAMES`` in ``/usr/include/linux/soundcard.h``. ``jack`` JACK (Jack Audio Connection Kit) audio output driver ``port=`` Connects to the ports with the given name (default: physical ports). ``name=`` Client name that is passed to JACK (default: ``mpv``). Useful if you want to have certain connections established automatically. ``(no-)autostart`` Automatically start jackd if necessary (default: disabled). Note that this tends to be unreliable and will flood stdout with server messages. ``(no-)connect`` Automatically create connections to output ports (default: enabled). When enabled, the maximum number of output channels will be limited to the number of available output ports. ``std-channel-layout=alsa|waveext|any`` Select the standard channel layout (default: alsa). JACK itself has no notion of channel layouts (i.e. assigning which speaker a given channel is supposed to map to) - it just takes whatever the application outputs, and reroutes it to whatever the user defines. This means the user and the application are in charge of dealing with the channel layout. ``alsa`` uses the old MPlayer layout, which is inspired by ALSA's standard layouts. In this mode, ao_jack will refuse to play 3 or 7 channels (because these do not really have a defined meaning in MPlayer). ``waveext`` uses WAVE_FORMAT_EXTENSIBLE order, which, even though it was defined by Microsoft, is the standard on many systems. The value ``any`` makes JACK accept whatever comes from the audio filter chain, regardless of channel layout and without reordering. This mode is probably not very useful, other than for debugging or when used with fixed setups. ``coreaudio`` (Mac OS X only) Native Mac OS X audio output driver ``device_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 .. note:: This driver is not very useful. Playing multi-channel audio with it is slow. ``pulse`` PulseAudio audio output driver ``[][:]`` Specify the host and optionally output sink to use. An empty string uses a local connection, "localhost" uses network transfer (most likely not what you want). ``buffer=<1-2000|native>`` Set the audio buffer size in milliseconds. A higher value buffers more data, and has a lower probability of buffer underruns. A smaller value makes the audio stream react faster, e.g. to playback speed changes. Default: 250. ``portaudio`` PortAudio audio output driver. This works on all platforms, and has extensive MS Windows support. .. note:: This driver is not very useful. It was added in the hope of providing portable audio API across all platforms, but turned out semi-broken and underfeatured. ``device`` Specify the subdevice to use. Giving ``help`` as device name lists all devices found by PortAudio. Devices can be given as numeric values, starting from ``1``. ``dsound`` (Windows only) DirectX DirectSound audio output driver .. note:: This driver is for compatibility with old systems. ``device=`` Sets the device number to use. Playing a file with ``-v`` will show a list of available devices. ``sdl`` SDL 1.2+ audio output driver. Should work on any platform supported by SDL 1.2, but may require the ``SDL_AUDIODRIVER`` environment variable to be set appropriately for your system. .. note:: This driver is for compatibility with extremely foreign environments, such as systems where none of the other drivers are available. ``buflen=`` Sets the audio buffer length in seconds. Is used only as a hint by the sound system. Playing a file with ``-v`` will show the requested and obtained exact buffer size. A value of 0 selects the sound system default. ``bufcnt=`` Sets the number of extra audio buffers in mpv. Usually needs not be changed. ``null`` Produces no audio output but maintains video playback speed. Use ``--ao=null:untimed`` for benchmarking. ``untimed`` Do not simulate timing of a perfect audio device. This means audio decoding will go as fast as possible, instead of timing it to the system clock. ``buffer`` Simulated buffer length in seconds. ``outburst`` Simulated chunk size in samples. ``speed`` Simulated audio playback speed as a multiplier. Usually, a real audio device will not go exactly as fast as the system clock. It will deviate just a little, and this option helps simulating this. ``latency`` Simulated device latency. This is additional to EOF. ``broken-eof`` Simulate broken audio drivers, which always add the fixed device latency to the reported audio playback position. ``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=`` Write the sound to ```` instead of the default ``audiodump.wav``. If ``no-waveheader`` is specified, the default is ``audiodump.pcm``. ``rsound`` Audio output to an RSound daemon .. note:: Completely useless, unless you intend to run RSound. Not to be confused with RoarAudio, which is something completely different. ``host=`` 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=`` Set the TCP port used for connecting to the server (default: 12345). Not used if connecting to a Unix domain socket. ``sndio`` Audio output to the OpenBSD sndio sound system .. note:: Experimental. There are known bugs and issues. (Note: only supports mono, stereo, 4.0, 5.1 and 7.1 channel layouts.) ``device=`` sndio device to use (default: ``$AUDIODEVICE``, resp. ``snd0``). ``wasapi`` Audio output to the Windows Audio Session API. ``device=`` Uses the requested endpoint instead of the system's default audio endpoint. Both the number and the ID String are valid; the ID String is guaranteed to not change unless the driver is uninstalled. Also supports searching active devices by name. If more than one device matches the name, refuses loading it. To get a list of the valid devices, give ``help`` as the id. The list is the same as the ``list`` suboption, but stops the player initialization. ``exclusive`` Requests exclusive, direct hardware access. By definition prevents sound playback of any other program until mpv exits. ``list`` Lists all audio endpoints (output devices) present in the system.