---
name: "pipewire-pulse.conf"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "pipewire-pulse"
version: "1:1.6.10-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pipewire-pulse.conf"
---

# pipewire-pulse.conf(5)

pipewire-pulse.conf

## NAME

pipewire-pulse.conf - pipewire-pulse.conf

## DESCRIPTION

The PipeWire Pulseaudio server configuration file

## SYNOPSIS

*$XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/pipewire/pipewire-pulse.conf*

*/etc/pipewire/pipewire-pulse.conf*

*/usr/share/pipewire/pipewire-pulse.conf*

*/usr/share/pipewire/pipewire-pulse.conf.d/*

*/etc/pipewire/pipewire-pulse.conf.d/*

*$XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/pipewire/pipewire-pulse.conf.d/*

## DESCRIPTION

Configuration for PipeWire's PulseAudio-compatible daemon.

The configuration file format and lookup logic is the same as for **[pipewire.conf(5)](/pipewire.conf/5.md)**.

Drop-in configuration files pipewire-pulse.conf.d/\*.conf can be used, and are recommended. See **[pipewire.conf(5)](/pipewire.conf/5.md)**.

## CONFIGURATION FILE SECTIONS

**stream.properties**

Dictionary. These properties configure the PipeWire Pulseaudio server properties.

**stream.rules**

Dictionary. These properties configure the PipeWire Pulseaudio server properties.

**pulse.properties**

Dictionary. These properties configure the PipeWire Pulseaudio server properties.

**pulse.cmd**

Array of dictionaries. A set of commands to be executed on startup.

**pulse.rules**

Array of dictionaries. A set of match rules and actions to apply to clients.

See **[libpipewire-module-protocol-pulse(7)](/libpipewire-module-protocol-pulse/7.md)** for the detailed description.

In addition, the PipeWire context configuration sections may also be specified, see **[pipewire.conf(5)](/pipewire.conf/5.md)**.

## STREAM PROPERTIES

The stream.properties section contains properties for streams created by the pipewire-pulse server.

Available options are described in **[pipewire-client.conf(5)](/pipewire-client.conf/5.md) stream.properties**.

Some of these properties map to the PulseAudio /etc/pulse/default.pa config entries as follows:

PulseAudio  PipeWire  Notes  remixing-use-all-sink-channels  channelmix.upmix  remixing-produce-lfe  channelmix.lfe-cutoff  Set to \> 0 to enable  remixing-consume-lfe  channelmix.mix-lfe  lfe-crossover-freq  channelmix.lfe-cutoff

### Example

```
# ~/.config/pipewire/pipewire-pulse.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.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 = ""
}
```

## STREAM RULES

The stream.rules section works the same as **[pipewire-client.conf(5)](/pipewire-client.conf/5.md) stream.rules**.

## PULSEAUDIO PROPERTIES

 For pulse.properties section, see **[libpipewire-module-protocol-pulse(7)](/libpipewire-module-protocol-pulse/7.md)** for available options.

## PULSEAUDIO RULES

 For each client, a set of rules can be written in pulse.rules section to configure quirks of the client or to force some pulse specific stream configuration.

The general look of this section is as follows and follows the layout of **match rules, see [pipewire(1)](/pipewire/1.md)**.

See **[libpipewire-module-protocol-pulse(7)](/libpipewire-module-protocol-pulse/7.md)** for available options.

### Example

```
# ~/.config/pipewire/pipewire-pulse.conf.d/custom.conf
pulse.rules = [
    {
        # skype does not want to use devices that don't have an S16 sample format.
        matches = [
             { application.process.binary = "teams" }
             { application.process.binary = "teams-insiders" }
             { application.process.binary = "skypeforlinux" }
        ]
        actions = { quirks = [ force-s16-info ] }
    }
    {
        # speech dispatcher asks for too small latency and then underruns.
        matches = [ { application.name = "~speech-dispatcher*" } ]
        actions = {
            update-props = {
                pulse.min.req          = 1024/48000     # 21ms
                pulse.min.quantum      = 1024/48000     # 21ms
            }
        }
    }
]
```

## PULSEAUDIO COMMANDS

As part of the server startup procedure you can execute some additional commands with the pulse.cmd section in pipewire-pulse.conf.

```
# ~/.config/pipewire/pipewire-pulse.conf.d/custom.conf
pulse.cmd = [
    { cmd = "load-module" args = "module-always-sink" flags = [ ] }
    { cmd = "load-module" args = "module-switch-on-connect" }
    { cmd = "load-module" args = "module-gsettings" flags = [ "nofail" ] }
]
...
```

Additional commands can also be run via the **context.exec section, see [pipewire.conf(5)](/pipewire.conf/5.md)**.

Supported commands:

**load-module**

Load the specified Pulseaudio module on startup, as if using **[pactl(1)](/pactl/1.md)** to load the module.

## PULSEAUDIO MODULES

For contents of section pulse.modules, see **[pipewire-pulse-modules(7)](/pipewire-pulse-modules/7.md)**.

## AUTHORS

The PipeWire Developers \<https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire/issues\>; PipeWire is available from \<https://pipewire.org\>

## SEE ALSO

**[libpipewire-module-protocol-pulse(7)](/libpipewire-module-protocol-pulse/7.md)**, **[pipewire.conf(5)](/pipewire.conf/5.md)**, **[pipewire-pulse(1)](/pipewire-pulse/1.md)**, **[pipewire-pulse-modules(7)](/pipewire-pulse-modules/7.md)**