arecord

Record audio from ALSA sound devices

TLDR

Record in CD quality (finish with Ctrl+C)

$ arecord -vv -f cd [path/to/file.wav]

Record with a fixed duration of 10 seconds

$ arecord -vv -f cd -d 10 [path/to/file.wav]

Record and save as MP3 (via lame)

$ arecord -vv -f cd -t raw | lame -r - [path/to/file.mp3]

List all sound cards and digital audio devices

$ arecord -l

Allow interactive interface

$ arecord -i

Test microphone with a 5 second sample

$ arecord -d 5 test-mic.wav && aplay test-mic.wav && rm test-mic.wav

SYNOPSIS

arecord [-d duration] [-f format] [-r rate] [-c channels] [file]

arecord is a command-line sound recorder for ALSA soundcard drivers. It captures audio from sound cards and saves it in various formats including WAV, AU, VOC, and raw audio. The tool supports configurable sample rates, bit depths, and channel counts. The shorthand format cd sets 16-bit signed little-endian stereo at 44100 Hz. Raw output can be piped to encoders like lame for MP3 conversion. It is the recording counterpart to aplay.

PARAMETERS

-d, --duration seconds

Stop recording after the specified number of seconds.

-f, --format format

Sample format (cd, S16LE, S16BE, U8, S32_LE, etc.).

-r, --rate rate

Sampling rate in Hz (2000-192000).

-c, --channels count

Number of channels (1 for mono, 2 for stereo).

-t, --file-type type

File type (wav, raw, au, voc).

-l, --list-devices

List all soundcards and digital audio devices.

-L, --list-pcms

List all PCMs defined.

-D, --device name

Select PCM device by name.

-M, --mmap

Use memory-mapped I/O mode for the audio stream.

-N, --nonblock

Open the audio device in non-blocking mode.

-F, --period-time microseconds

Distance between interrupts in microseconds.

-B, --buffer-time microseconds

Buffer duration in microseconds.

-V, --vumeter type

VU meter type (stereo or mono).

-i, --interactive

Allow interactive control via stdin.

-v, --verbose

Verbose mode; use -vv for more detail including VU meter.

-q, --quiet

Quiet mode; suppress messages.

--disable-resample

Disable automatic rate resample.

--disable-channels

Disable automatic channel conversions.

--disable-format

Disable automatic format conversions.

INSTALL

sudo apt install alsa-utils

sudo dnf install alsa-utils

sudo pacman -S alsa-utils

sudo apk add alsa-utils

sudo zypper install alsa-utils

nix profile install nixpkgs#alsa-utils

CAVEATS

Requires ALSA drivers to be installed and configured. The cd format is shorthand for 16-bit signed little-endian, 44100 Hz, stereo.

HISTORY

Part of ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) utilities package, which replaced OSS as the standard Linux sound system.