SoX the Swiss Army knife of sound processing
SoX (Sound eXchange), the Swiss Army knife of sound processing programs.
SoX is a cross-platform command line utility, that can convert various formats of audio files in to other formats.
Installing SoX on Linux
For RHEL, CentOS like Linux:
# yum install sox
For debian, Ubuntu like Linux:
# apt-get install sox
or see: Installing SoX with MP3 Support >>
Displaying audio file information
sox --i file.wav
or
soxi file.wav
Example output:
Input File : 'file.wav' Channels : 2 Sample Rate : 44100 Precision : 16-bit Duration : 00:02:55.99 = 7761024 samples = 13199 CDDA sectors File Size : 31.0M Bit Rate : 1.41M Sample Encoding: 16-bit Signed Integer PCM
SoX converting cheat sheet
SoX change sample rate (resampling). Resample file.wav to 16000 Hz:
sox file.wav -r 16k resampled.wav
SoX Changing bit depth. Changing file.wav bit depth to 8 bit:
sox file.wav -b 8 resampled.wav
SoX convert mp3 to wav:
sox input.mp3 output.wav
SoX Convert to mono:
sox input.mp3 -c 1 output.wav
See also How To Convert GSM to WAV and WAV to GSM >>
SoX help output:
sox: SoX v14.4.2 Usage summary: [gopts] [[fopts] infile]... [fopts] outfile [effect [effopt]]... SPECIAL FILENAMES (infile, outfile): - Pipe/redirect input/output (stdin/stdout); may need -t -d, --default-device Use the default audio device (where available) -n, --null Use the `null' file handler; e.g. with synth effect -p, --sox-pipe Alias for `-t sox -' SPECIAL FILENAMES (infile only): "|program [options] ..." Pipe input from external program (where supported) http://server/file Use the given URL as input file (where supported) GLOBAL OPTIONS (gopts) (can be specified at any point before the first effect): --buffer BYTES Set the size of all processing buffers (default 8192) --clobber Don't prompt to overwrite output file (default) --combine concatenate Concatenate all input files (default for sox, rec) --combine sequence Sequence all input files (default for play) -D, --no-dither Don't dither automatically --dft-min NUM Minimum size (log2) for DFT processing (default 10) --effects-file FILENAME File containing effects and options -G, --guard Use temporary files to guard against clipping -h, --help Display version number and usage information --help-effect NAME Show usage of effect NAME, or NAME=all for all --help-format NAME Show info on format NAME, or NAME=all for all --i, --info Behave as soxi(1) --input-buffer BYTES Override the input buffer size (default: as --buffer) --no-clobber Prompt to overwrite output file -m, --combine mix Mix multiple input files (instead of concatenating) --combine mix-power Mix to equal power (instead of concatenating) -M, --combine merge Merge multiple input files (instead of concatenating) --multi-threaded Enable parallel effects channels processing --norm Guard (see --guard) & normalise --play-rate-arg ARG Default `rate' argument for auto-resample with `play' --plot gnuplot|octave Generate script to plot response of filter effect -q, --no-show-progress Run in quiet mode; opposite of -S --replay-gain track|album|off Default: off (sox, rec), track (play) -R Use default random numbers (same on each run of SoX) -S, --show-progress Display progress while processing audio data --single-threaded Disable parallel effects channels processing --temp DIRECTORY Specify the directory to use for temporary files -T, --combine multiply Multiply samples of corresponding channels from all input files (instead of concatenating) --version Display version number of SoX and exit -V[LEVEL] Increment or set verbosity level (default 2); levels: 1: failure messages 2: warnings 3: details of processing 4-6: increasing levels of debug messages FORMAT OPTIONS (fopts): Input file format options need only be supplied for files that are headerless. Output files will have the same format as the input file where possible and not overridden by any of various means including providing output format options. -v|--volume FACTOR Input file volume adjustment factor (real number) --ignore-length Ignore input file length given in header; read to EOF -t|--type FILETYPE File type of audio -e|--encoding ENCODING Set encoding (ENCODING may be one of signed-integer, unsigned-integer, floating-point, mu-law, a-law, ima-adpcm, ms-adpcm, gsm-full-rate) -b|--bits BITS Encoded sample size in bits -N|--reverse-nibbles Encoded nibble-order -X|--reverse-bits Encoded bit-order --endian little|big|swap Encoded byte-order; swap means opposite to default -L/-B/-x Short options for the above -c|--channels CHANNELS Number of channels of audio data; e.g. 2 = stereo -r|--rate RATE Sample rate of audio -C|--compression FACTOR Compression factor for output format --add-comment TEXT Append output file comment --comment TEXT Specify comment text for the output file --comment-file FILENAME File containing comment text for the output file --no-glob Don't `glob' wildcard match the following filename AUDIO FILE FORMATS: 8svx aif aifc aiff aiffc al amb au avr cdda cdr cvs cvsd cvu dat dvms f32 f4 f64 f8 flac fssd gsm gsrt hcom htk ima ircam la lpc lpc10 lu maud mp2 mp3 nist ogg prc raw s1 s16 s2 s24 s3 s32 s4 s8 sb sf sl sln smp snd sndr sndt sou sox sph sw txw u1 u16 u2 u24 u3 u32 u4 u8 ub ul uw vms voc vorbis vox wav wavpcm wve xa PLAYLIST FORMATS: m3u pls AUDIO DEVICE DRIVERS: oss ossdsp EFFECTS: allpass band bandpass bandreject bass bend biquad chorus channels compand contrast dcshift deemph delay dither divide+ downsample earwax echo echos equalizer fade fir firfit+ flanger gain highpass hilbert input# loudness lowpass mcompand noiseprof noisered norm oops output# overdrive pad phaser pitch rate remix repeat reverb reverse riaa silence sinc speed splice stat stats stretch swap synth tempo treble tremolo trim upsample vad vol * Deprecated effect + Experimental effect # LibSoX-only effect EFFECT OPTIONS (effopts): effect dependent; see --help-effect
