Signed-off-by: Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>

2025-06-22 21:40:42 +02:00

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\page page_man_pipewire-client_conf_5 client.conf

The PipeWire client configuration file.

\tableofcontents

SYNOPSIS

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/pipewire/client.conf

$(PIPEWIRE_CONFIG_DIR)/client.conf

$(PIPEWIRE_CONFDATADIR)/client.conf

$(PIPEWIRE_CONFDATADIR)/client.conf.d/

$(PIPEWIRE_CONFIG_DIR)/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 \ref page_man_pipewire_conf_5 "pipewire.conf(5)".

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

CONFIGURATION FILE SECTIONS @IDX@ client.conf

\par stream.properties Configures options for native client streams.

\par stream.rules Configures rules for native client streams.

\par alsa.properties ALSA client configuration.

\par alsa.rules ALSA client match rules.

In addition, the PipeWire context configuration sections may also be specified, see \ref page_man_pipewire_conf_5 "pipewire.conf(5)".

STREAM PROPERTIES @IDX@ client.conf

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
    #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 \ref props__common_node_properties "pipewire-props(7) Common Node Properties" and \ref props__audio_converter_properties "pipewire-props(7) Audio Adapter Properties"

STREAM RULES @IDX@ client.conf

You can add \ref pipewire_conf__match_rules "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 @IDX@ client.conf

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
}

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

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

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

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

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

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

@PAR@ client.conf 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 @IDX@ client.conf

It is possible to set ALSA client specific properties by using \ref pipewire_conf__match_rules "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 @IDX@ client-env

See \ref page_man_pipewire_1 "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.

@PAR@ client-env PIPEWIRE_ALSA \parblock 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. \endparblock

@PAR@ client-env PIPEWIRE_NODE \parblock Instructs the ALSA client to link to a particular sink or source object.serial or node.name.