Audio on Linux

Illustration

Creator: Yihui Xiong


Scenarios

ALSA (The red scenario)
– Using ALSA without any sound server
– Just one source per sink is possible
– The apps have to use the ALSA API

dmix (The green scenario)
– Using dmix as a sound server
– Multiple sources per sink are possible
– The apps have to use the ALSA API

PulseAudio (The blue scenario)
– Using PulseAudio as a sound server
– Multiple sources per sink are possible
– The apps can use the ALSA or the PA API