man1/aplay.1

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    aplay(1)							     aplay(1)

    NAME
      aplay	- An AF	play client.

    SYNOPSIS
      aplay	[-server audioserver] [-d device] [-t time] [-g	gain] [-e encoding]
      [-f ]	[-c] [-b] [-l] [file]

    DESCRIPTION
      aplay	reads samples from file, or stdin if file is not specified, and	sends
      the sound data to the	audio server for playback.  The	file is	assumed	to be
      of a sample format appropriate for the playback device.

    OPTIONS

      -server audioserver

           Specifies which audio server to connect to in order to play the sound
           file.  If audioserver is	not specified, aplay uses the default server.
           See the AUDIOFILE environment variable.

      -d device

           Specifies which audio device to play the	sound file through.  If	dev-
           ice is not specified, aplay defaults to the first device	that isn't
           connected to the	telephone.

      -t time

           time can	be used	to adjust the audio device time	at which the the
           aplay client begins to play the sound data.  A positive value of	time
           will begin playing time seconds in the future.  If time is negative,
           time seconds of sound data will be "thrown away".  The default is 0.1
           seconds.

      -e ncoding

           encoding	will specify the type of the data being	read from the file or
           standard	input.	Legal values are described in the audio.h header
           file, and may be	obtained via aplay -e xxx.  The	-e flag	simply
           informs the AF server of	the datatype.Some encodings may	fail if	they
           are not supported by the	AF server.  See	also aconvert(1).

      -g gain

           A gain in dB can	be used	to attenuate or	amplify	the sound data prior
           to mixing in the	audio server.

      -f

           The -f switch turns on flush mode, which	forces aplay to	wait until
           the last	sound has been played before exiting.

      -c

           The -c switch instructs aplay to	play to	the canonical sound bytes
           shipped with the	AF kit.	This switch depends on the SOUND_PATH
           environment variable.

      -b

           Specifies that for 16 bit data, the bytes are in	"Big Endian" byte
           order (e.g. Sparc, RIOS,	PA).

      -l

           Specifies that for 16 bit data, the bytes are in	"Little	Endian"	byte
           order (e.g. Alpha, Intel	x86, VAX).

      file

           aplay attempts to read from file	in the current working directory or
           from one	of the directories in the SOUND_PATH environment variable if
           it is set.

    ENVIRONMENT

      AUDIOFILE	 specifies the host and	server to use.

      SOUND_PATH	 specifies a colon-separated list of directories in which
    		 sounds	may be found.

    BUGS
      There	is no way to play back a file in preempt mode.

      If you encounter a reproducible bug, please submit a problem report to
      (af-bugs@crl.dec.com).

    SEE ALSO
      AF(1), arecord(1)

    COPYRIGHT
      Copyright 1992-1994, Digital Equipment Corporation.
      See AF(1) for	a full statement of rights and permissions.

    AUTHORS
      Digital Cambridge Research Lab