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client.conf

The PipeWire client configuration file.

# SYNOPSIS

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/pipewire/client.conf

/etc/pipewire/client.conf

/usr/share/pipewire/client.conf

/usr/share/pipewire/client.conf.d/

/etc/pipewire/client.conf.d/

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/pipewire/client.conf.d/

# DESCRIPTION

Configuration for PipeWire native clients, and for PipeWire's ALSA plugin.

A PipeWire native client program selects the default config to load, and if nothing is specified, it usually loads client.conf.

The configuration file format and lookup logic is the same as for pipewire.conf(5).

Drop-in configuration files client.conf.d/*.conf can be used, and are recommended. See pipewire.conf(5).

# CONFIGURATION FILE SECTIONS

stream.properties
  Configures options for native client streams.

stream.rules
  Configures rules for native client streams.

alsa.properties
  ALSA client configuration.

alsa.rules
  ALSA client match rules.

In addition, the PipeWire context configuration sections may also be specified, see pipewire.conf(5).

# STREAM PROPERTIES

The client configuration files contain a stream.properties section that configures the options for client streams:

# ~/.config/pipewire/client.conf.d/custom.conf
stream.properties = {
#node.latency = 1024/48000
#node.autoconnect = true
#resample.disable = false
#resample.quality = 4
#resample.window = exp # blackman kaiser
#resample.cutoff = 0.0
#resample.n-taps = 0
#resample.param.exp.A = 0.0
#resample.param.blackman.alpha = 0.0
#resample.param.kaiser.alpha = 0.0
#resample.param.kaiser.stopband-attenuation = 0.0
#resample.param.kaiser.transition-bandwidth = 0.0
#monitor.channel-volumes = false
#channelmix.disable = false
#channelmix.min-volume = 0.0
#channelmix.max-volume = 10.0
#channelmix.normalize = false
#channelmix.lock-volume = false
#channelmix.mix-lfe = true
#channelmix.upmix = true
#channelmix.upmix-method = psd # none, simple
#channelmix.lfe-cutoff = 150.0
#channelmix.fc-cutoff = 12000.0
#channelmix.rear-delay = 12.0
#channelmix.stereo-widen = 0.0
#channelmix.hilbert-taps = 0
#dither.noise = 0
#dither.method = none # rectangular, triangular, triangular-hf, wannamaker3, shaped5
#debug.wav-path = ""
}

Some of the properties refer to different aspects of the stream:

- General stream properties to identify the stream.
- General stream properties to classify the stream.
- How it is going to be scheduled by the graph.
- How it is going to be linked by the session manager.
- How the internal processing will be done.
- Properties to configure the media format.

A list of object properties that can be applied to streams can be found in pipewire-props(7) Common Node Properties and pipewire-props(7) Audio Adapter Properties

# STREAM RULES

You can add match rules, see pipewire(1) to set properties for certain streams and filters.

stream.rules and filter.rules provides an update-props action that takes an object with properties that are updated on the node object of the stream and filter.

Add a stream.rules or filter.rules section in the config file like this:

# ~/.config/pipewire/client.conf.d/custom.conf
stream.rules = [
{
matches = [
{
# all keys must match the value. ! negates. ~ starts regex.
application.process.binary = "firefox"
}
]
actions = {
update-props = {
node.name = "My Name"
}
}
}
]

Will set the node.name of Firefox to "My Name".

# ALSA CLIENT PROPERTIES

An alsa.properties section can be added to configure client applications that connect via the PipeWire ALSA plugin.

# ~/.config/pipewire/client.conf.d/custom.conf
alsa.properties = {
#alsa.deny = false
#alsa.format = 0
#alsa.rate = 0
#alsa.channels = 0
#alsa.period-bytes = 0
#alsa.buffer-bytes = 0
#alsa.volume-method = cubic # linear, cubic
}

alsa.deny
  Denies ALSA access for the client. Useful in rules or PIPEWIRE_ALSA environment variable.

alsa.format
  The ALSA format to use for the client. This is an ALSA format name. default 0, which is to allow all formats.

alsa.rate
  The samplerate to use for the client. The default is 0, which is to allow all rates.

alsa.channels
  The number of channels for the client. The default is 0, which is to allow any number of channels.

alsa.period-bytes
  The number of bytes per period. The default is 0 which is to allow any number of period bytes.

alsa.buffer-bytes
  The number of bytes in the alsa buffer. The default is 0, which is to allow any number of bytes.

alsa.volume-method = cubic | linear
  This controls the volume curve used on the ALSA mixer. Possible values are cubic and linear. The default is to use cubic.

# ALSA CLIENT RULES

It is possible to set ALSA client specific properties by using Match rules, see pipewire(1). You can set any of the above ALSA properties or any of the stream.properties.

### Example

# ~/.config/pipewire/client.conf.d/custom.conf
alsa.rules = [
{ matches = [ { application.process.binary = "resolve" } ]
actions = {
update-props = {
alsa.buffer-bytes = 131072
}
}
}
]

# ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

See pipewire(1) for common environment variables. Many of these also apply to client applications.

The environment variables also influence ALSA applications that are using PipeWire's ALSA plugin.

PIPEWIRE_ALSA

  This can be an object with properties from alsa.properties or stream.properties that will be used to construct the client and streams.

  For example:

  PIPEWIRE_ALSA='{ alsa.buffer-bytes=16384 node.name=foo }' aplay ...

  Starts aplay with custom properties.

PIPEWIRE_NODE

  Instructs the ALSA client to link to a particular sink or source object.serial or node.name.

  For example:

  PIPEWIRE_NODE=alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo aplay ...

  Makes aplay play on the give audio sink.

# AUTHORS

The PipeWire Developers <https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire/issues>; PipeWire is available from <https://pipewire.org>

# SEE ALSO

libpipewire-module-protocol-pulse(7), pipewire.conf(5), pipewire-pulse(1), pipewire-pulse-modules(7)