PulseAudio is a sound system daemon and manager that is used on many Linux-based operating systems. It is responsible for managing the audio input and output on a system, including playing audio from applications, recording audio from microphones or other sources, and handling volume control and other audio settings.
One of the main advantages of PulseAudio is its ability to work with multiple audio sources and sinks. This means that it can handle audio from different applications running on the same system, and route it to different output devices such as speakers or headphones. For example, if you’re listening to music on your laptop and receive a Skype call, PulseAudio can automatically switch the audio output from the music player to the Skype call, and then back again when the call is finished.
PulseAudio also includes a number of other advanced features, such as support for network audio, which allows audio to be streamed over a network to remote devices. This can be useful for situations where you want to play audio on a remote device, such as a wireless speaker or home theater system.
In addition to its core functionality, PulseAudio also includes a number of command-line tools and graphical interfaces that make it easy to manage audio settings and troubleshoot problems. These tools include pavucontrol, a graphical mixer for controlling audio settings; pacmd, a command-line interface for configuring PulseAudio; and pactl, a command-line tool for controlling the PulseAudio server.
If you encounter the below error while running the command pulseaudio:
pulseaudio: command not found
you may try installing the below package as per your choice of distribution:
| Distribution | Command |
|---|---|
| Debian | apt-get install pulseaudio |
| Ubuntu | apt-get install pulseaudio |
| Alpine | apk add pulseaudio |
| Arch Linux | pacman -S pulseaudio |
| Kali Linux | apt-get install pulseaudio |
| CentOS | yum install pulseaudio |
| Fedora | dnf install pulseaudio |
| OS X | brew install pulseaudio |
| Raspbian | apt-get install pulseaudio |
pulseaudio Command Examples
1. Check if PulseAudio is running (a non-zero exit code means it is not running):
# pulseaudio --check
2. Start the PulseAudio daemon in the background:
# pulseaudio --start
3. Kill the running PulseAudio daemon:
# pulseaudio --kill
4. List available modules:
# pulseaudio --dump-modules
5. Load a module into the currently running daemon with the specified arguments:
# pulseaudio --load="module_name arguments"
Summary
Overall, PulseAudio is a powerful and flexible audio system that is widely used on Linux-based operating systems. Its ability to manage multiple audio sources and sinks, support for network audio, and other advanced features make it a valuable tool for audio professionals, as well as casual users who just want to enjoy high-quality audio on their Linux system.