NAME
ogg123 - plays Ogg Vorbis files
SYNOPSIS
ogg123 [ -vqrzZVh ] [ -k seconds ] [ -x nth ] [ -y ntimes ] [ -b buf‐
fersize ] [ -d driver [ -o option:value ] [ -f filename ] ] file ...
| directory ... | URL ...
DESCRIPTION
ogg123 reads Ogg Vorbis audio files and decodes them to the devices
specified on the command line. By default, ogg123 writes to the stan‐
dard sound device, but output can be sent to any number of devices.
Files can be read from the file system, or URLs can be streamed via
HTTP. If a directory is given, all of the files in it or its subdirec‐
tories will be played.
OPTIONS
audio-buffer n
Use an output audio buffer of approximately 'n' kilobytes.
-@ playlist, list playlist
Play all of the files named in the file 'playlist'. The
playlist should have one filename, directory name, or URL per
line. Blank lines are permitted. Directories will be treated
in the same way as on the command line.
-b n, buffer n
Use an input buffer of approximately 'n' kilobytes. HTTP-only
option.
-p n, prebuffer n
Prebuffer 'n' percent of the input buffer. Playback won't begin
until this prebuffer is complete. HTTP-only option.
-d device, device device
Specify output device. See DEVICES section for a list of
devices. Any number of devices may be specified.
-f filename, file filename
Specify output file for file devices. The filename "-" writes
to standard out. If the file already exists, ogg123 will over‐
write it.
-c c, config c
Config options from command-line.
-l s, delay s
Set termination timeout in milliseconds. ogg123 will skip to the
next song on SIGINT (Ctrl-C), and will terminate if two SIGINTs
are received within the specified timeout 's'. (default 500)
-h, help
Show command help.
-k n, skip n
Skip the first 'n' seconds. 'n' may also be in minutes:seconds
or hours:minutes:seconds form.
-K n, end n
Stops playing 'n' seconds from the start of the stream. 'n' may
also have the same format as used in the skip option.
-o option[:value], device-option option[:value]
Sets the option option to value for the preceding device. See
DEVICES for a list of valid options for each device.
-q, quiet
Quiet mode. No messages are displayed.
-V, version
Display version information.
-v, verbose
Increase verbosity.
-x n, nth
Play every 'n'th decoded block. Has the effect of playing audio
at 'n' times faster than normal speed.
-y n, ntimes
Repeat every played block 'n' times. Has the effect of playing
audio 'n' times slower than normal speed. May be with -x for
interesting fractional speeds.
-r, repeat
Repeat playlist indefinitely.
-R, remote
Use remote control interface.
-z, shuffle
Play files in pseudo-random order.
-Z, random
Play files in pseudo-random order forever.
DEVICES
ogg123 supports a variety of audio output devices through libao. Only
those devices supported by the target platform will be available. The
-f option may only be used with devices that write to files.
Options supported by all devices:
debug Turn on debugging output [if any] for a chosen driver.
matrix:value
Force a specific output channel ordering for a given
device. value is a comma seperated list of AO style
channel names, eg, L,R,C,LFE,BL,BR,SL,SR.
verbose
Turn on verbose output for a chosen driver. the -v option
will also set the driver verbose option.
quiet Force chosen driver to be completely silent. Even errors
will not produce any output. -q will also set the driver
quiet option.
aixs AIX live output driver. Options:
dev:value
Set AIX output device to value
alsa Advanced Linux Sound Architecture live output driver. Options:
buffertime:value
Override the default hardware buffer size (in millisec‐
onds).
dev:value
ALSA device label to use. Examples include "hw:0" for the
first soundcard and "hw:1" for the second. The alsa
driver normally chooses one of "surround71", "sur‐
round51", "surround40" or "default" automatically depend‐
ing on number of output channels. For more information,
see http://alsa.opensrc.org/ALSA+device+labels
periodtime:value
Override the default hardware period size (in microsec‐
onds).
periodtime:value
Override the default hardware period size (in microsec‐
onds).
usemmap:value
value is set to "yes" or "no" to override the compiled-in
default to use or not use mmap device access. In the
past, some buggy alsa drivers have behaved better when
not using mmap access at the penalty of slightly higher
CPU usage.
arts aRts Sound Daemon live output driver. Options:
multi:value
value is set to "yes" or "no" to allow opening the aRts
playback device for multiply concurrent playback.
Although the driver works properly in multi mode, it is
known to occasionally crash the aRts server itself.
Default behavior is "no".
au Sun audio file output. Writes the audio samples in AU format.
The AU format supports writing to unseekable files like standard
out. In such circumstances, the AU header will specify the sam‐
ple format, but not the length of the recording.
esd Enlightened Sound Daemon live output. Options:
host:value
value specifies the hostname where esd is running. This
can include a port number after a colon, as in
"whizbang.com:555". (Default = localhost)
irix IRIX live output audio driver.
macosx MacOS X 'AUHAL' live output driver. This driver supports MacOS
X 10.5 and later (10.4 and earlier uses an earlier, incompatable
interface). Options:
buffertime:value
Set the hardware buffer size to the equivalent of value
milliseconds.
nas Network Audio Server live output driver. Options:
bufsize:value
Set size of audio buffer on server in bytes.
host:value
Set location of NAS server; See nas(1) for format.
null Null driver. All audio data is discarded. (Note: Audio data is
not written to /dev/null !) You could use this driver to test
raw decoding speed without output overhead.
oss Open Sound System driver for Linux and FreeBSD, versions 2, 3
and 4. Options:
dsp:value
DSP device for soundcard. Defaults to /dev/dsp.
pulse Pulseaudio live audio sound driver. Options:
server:value
Specifies location of remote or alternate Pulseaudio
server.
sink:value
Specifies a non-default Pulseaudio sink for audio stream.
raw Raw file output. Writes raw audio samples to a file. Options:
byteorder:value
Chooses big endian ("big"), little endian ("little"), or
native ("native") byte order. Default is native order.
roar Roar Audio Daemon live output driver. Options:
host:value
Specifies location of remote Roar server to use.
sndio OpenBSD SNDIO live output driver. Options:
dev:value
Specifies audio device to use for playback.
sun Sun Audio live output driver for NetBSD, OpenBSD, and Solaris.
Options:
dev:value
Audio device for soundcard. Defaults to /dev/audio.
wav WAV file output. Writes the sound data to disk in uncompressed
form. If multiple files are played, all of them will be con‐
catenated into the same WAV file. WAV files cannot be written
to unseekable files, such as standard out. Use the AU format
instead.
wmm Windows MultiMedia live output driver for Win98 and later.
Options:
dev:value
Selects audio device to use for playback by device name.
id:value
Selects audio device to use for playback by device id
(card number).
EXAMPLES
The ogg123 command line is fairly flexible, perhaps confusingly so.
Here are some sample command lines and an explanation of what they do.
Play on the default soundcard:
ogg123 test.ogg
Play all of the files in the directory ~/music and its subdirectories.
ogg123 ~/music
Play a file using the OSS driver:
ogg123 -d oss test.ogg
Pass the "dsp" option to the OSS driver:
ogg123 -d oss -o dsp:/dev/mydsp
Use the ESD driver
ogg123 -d esd test.ogg
Use the WAV driver with the output file, "test.wav":
ogg123 -d wav -f test.wav test.ogg
Listen to a file while you write it to a WAV file:
ogg123 -d oss -d wav -f test.wav test.ogg
Note that options apply to the device declared to the left:
ogg123 -d oss -o dsp:/dev/mydsp -d raw -f test2.raw -o byte‐
order:big test.ogg
Stress test your harddrive:
ogg123 -d oss -d wav -f 1.wav -d wav -f 2.wav -d wav -f 3.wav -d
wav -f 4.wav -d wav -f 5.wav test.ogg
Create an echo effect with esd and a slow computer:
ogg123 -d esd -d esd test.ogg
INTERRUPT
You can abort ogg123 at any time by pressing Ctrl-C. If you are play‐
ing multiple files, this will stop the current file and begin playing
the next one. If you want to abort playing immediately instead of
skipping to the next file, press Ctrl-C within the first second of the
playback of a new file.
Note that the result of pressing Ctrl-C might not be audible immedi‐
ately, due to audio data buffering in the audio device. This delay is
system dependent, but it is usually not more than one or two seconds.
FILES
/etc/libao.conf
Can be used to set the default output device for all libao pro‐
grams.
~/.libao
Per-user config file to override the system wide output device
settings.
BUGS
Piped WAV files may cause strange behavior in other programs. This is
because WAV files store the data length in the header. However, the
output driver does not know the length when it writes the header, and
there is no value that means "length unknown". Use the raw or au out‐
put driver if you need to use ogg123 in a pipe.
AUTHORS
Program Authors:
Kenneth Arnold
Stan Seibert
Manpage Author:
Stan Seibert
SEE ALSO
libao.conf(5), oggenc(1), vorbiscomment(1), ogginfo(1)
Xiph.Org Foundation 2010 March 24 ogg123(1)