---
name: "osstest"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "oss4-base"
version: "4.2-build2010-2"
release: "Debian 8 (Jessie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/osstest"
---

# osstest(1)

Open Sound System audio self test applet.

## NAME

**osstest** - Open Sound System audio self test applet.

## DESCRIPTION

**The osstest applet is a simple test application that can be used to test**  **functionality of the sound hardware installed in the system.**

**osstest performs a playback test for each installed audio device. If there** **are any "machine detectable" problems they will be reported. You will first** **hear an audio sample played on the left speaker, then the right speaker and** **finally in stereo on both speakers.**

**It's user's responsibility to listen if the test sound is audible. If no** **sound output can be heard the possible reason is one of the following:**

- 1\.

  **An error was reported by osstest. In this case there will usually not be** **any sound output. The error needs to be fixed before running osstest** **again.**

- 2\.

  **There is no headphones or speakers connected. Or the connection is not** **made correctly.**

- 3\.

  **The mixer volume level is set to a too low value. By default it should** **be OK. The mixer level can be adjusted using the mixer, ossmix and ossxmix** **utilities distributed with OSS.**

- 4\.

  **Some notebooks have nonstandard volume control and/or speaker selection** **hardware that is not supported by OSS. It's very likely that OSS doesn't** **support such vendor specific additions.**

**If no errors were reported and the test sound was audible it means that** **OSS and your sound hardware is functioning correctly. If you still encounter** **problems with some sound applications the reason is almost certainly in** **the application. Check it's configuration or try to use another equivivalent** **application.**

**If you are having problems with JDS, KDE and/or Gnome system sounds, you need** **to make sure that OSS gets started before the GUI environment. Refer to your** **operating system's startup procedures.**

### SAMPLE RATE DRIFT

**The osstest utility measures a sample rate drift value after playing** **back the test sound. Ideally it should be 0% but in practice there** **will be an error of few percents. 0% means that the 48000 Hz test file** **was played exactly at 48000 Hz sampling rate.**

**The sample rate measurement is based on the system timer which has limited** **precision. It's likely that less than 1% differenc between the nominal and**  **the measured sampling rates are actually caused by an error in the measurement.** **For this reason the drift reported by osstest should not be used as any kind of** **quality measurement. However if the drift is very large it means that there is** **something wrong in the system. The oscillator chip used with the sound chip is** **broken or the system clock is running at a wrong speed.**

### USING OSSTEST MANUALLY

**The osstest utility is located in the /usr/bin directory. It can be run**  **manually to test functionality of OSS and your sound hardware. When invoked**  **without any command line parameters osstest performs the default test on all**  **devices. However it will skip some of the devices base on the following rules.**

- •

  **It is possible to test just one of the available audio devices by giving** **its number on command line (for example osstest 1). Use the device index** **numbers reported by "ossinfo -a".**

- •

  **Use the -l command line option to loop the test infinitely.**

- •

  **Virtual mixer devices will not be tested. Use the -V command line option to** **force test of virtual devices.**

- •

  **The actual (physical) audio devices will be tested directly (bypassing** **virtual mixer). If you want to test playback through vmix then use the** **-V option.**

- •

  **Multiple device files related with the same physical device will not** **be tested. Only the first one gets tested while the remaining ones will be** **skipped. At this moment there is no way to force osstest to test this kind of** **devices.**

- •

  **Only stereo devices will be tested. Future versions of osstest will be** **able to test mono and multi channel devices too. Also osstest requires that** **the device supports the 16 bit signed format and 48kHz sampling rate.**

- •

  **Send a SIGQUIT (Ctrl-\\ on most terminals) to make osstest skip a device.**

## FILES

**/usr/bin/osstest**

## SEE ALSO

**savemixer(1)**

## AUTHOR

**4Front Technologies**