PipeWire¶

PipeWire is the audio/video server used by default on most current Linux distributions. If pactl or wpctl work on your system, you're already running it, and it's generally the right choice for local audio - OwnTone connects as a native PipeWire client and lets WirePlumber decide which sink the audio goes to, the same way any other desktop application's audio does.

If your system is still on plain PulseAudio (not pipewire-pulse), use PulseAudio instead. To address an ALSA device directly without going through PipeWire, use ALSA.

Step 1: Select PipeWire¶

audio {
    nickname = "Computer"
    type = "pipewire"
}

With no further configuration, OwnTone opens a PipeWire stream and lets WirePlumber route it to the current default sink. OwnTone's volume slider controls only its own stream's software gain (stream mode, the default) - independent of the system volume and any other application.

Step 2: Choose a volume control mode (optional)¶

To have OwnTone's volume slider actually control something, set mixer:

audio {
    nickname = "Computer"
    type = "pipewire"
    mixer = "sink"
}

Value	Effect
(unset), `stream`	OwnTone controls only its own stream's software gain. Independent of other applications, and works even on sinks with no hardware mixer control. This is the default.
`sink`	OwnTone drives the actual sink's volume - the same one `wpctl set-volume` and desktop mixers control. Shared system-wide, and persists across restarts since WirePlumber saves it.

An unrecognized value is logged as a warning at startup and treated as stream.

Step 3: Pin a specific sink (optional, `sink` mode only)¶

By default OwnTone follows PipeWire's current default sink. To pin volume control to a specific sink instead, set sink_target to that sink's node.name:

    sink_target = "alsa_output.platform-soc_sound.stereo-fallback"

List available sink names with:

wpctl status

This also works for Bluetooth sinks - once paired and connected, a Bluetooth speaker's node.name looks like bluez_output.XX_XX_XX_XX_XX_XX.1 and can be pinned the same way.

Step 4: Adjust the volume curve (optional, `sink` mode only)¶

WirePlumber applies volume on a cubic scale, so wpctl set-volume 0.5 sounds roughly "half as loud" rather than "half the amplitude". OwnTone matches this by default (cubic), so its volume percentage lines up with wpctl get-volume for the same sink. Set sink_volume_curve = "linear" if you'd rather write the percentage straight into the sink's gain with no curve applied.

Full example¶

audio {
    nickname = "Computer"
    type = "pipewire"

    mixer = "sink"                   # "stream" (default) or "sink"
    sink_target = ""                 # node.name to pin to; unset follows the default sink
    sink_volume_curve = "cubic"      # "cubic" (default) or "linear"
}