NAudio.Alsa 3.2.0

Prefix Reserved
.NET 9.0 This package targets .NET 9.0. The package is compatible with this framework or higher.
There is a newer version of this package available.
See the version list below for details. 
dotnet add package NAudio.Alsa --version 3.2.0
                    


                    

                
NuGet\Install-Package NAudio.Alsa -Version 3.2.0
This command is intended to be used within the Package Manager Console in Visual Studio, as it uses the NuGet module's version of Install-Package. 
<PackageReference Include="NAudio.Alsa" Version="3.2.0" />
For projects that support PackageReference, copy this XML node into the project file to reference the package. 
<PackageVersion Include="NAudio.Alsa" Version="3.2.0" />
                    


                            Directory.Packages.props
                        

                    

                
<PackageReference Include="NAudio.Alsa" />
                    


                            Project file
For projects that support Central Package Management (CPM), copy this XML node into the solution Directory.Packages.props file to version the package. 
paket add NAudio.Alsa --version 3.2.0
                    


                    

                
#r "nuget: NAudio.Alsa, 3.2.0"
#r directive can be used in F# Interactive and Polyglot Notebooks. Copy this into the interactive tool or source code of the script to reference the package. 
#:package NAudio.Alsa@3.2.0
#:package directive can be used in C# file-based apps starting in .NET 10 preview 4. Copy this into a .cs file before any lines of code to reference the package. 
#addin nuget:?package=NAudio.Alsa&version=3.2.0
                    


                            Install as a Cake Addin
                        

                    

                
#tool nuget:?package=NAudio.Alsa&version=3.2.0
                    


                            Install as a Cake Tool

NAudio.Alsa

Nuget

ALSA playback and capture for NAudio on Linux.

This package provides:

Type Role
AlsaOut IWavePlayer — play any NAudio IWaveProvider through ALSA
AlsaIn IWaveIn — record from an ALSA capture device
AlsaDeviceEnumerator list playback / capture devices (AlsaDeviceInfo)
AlsaException thrown on libasound errors (exposes ErrorCode)

Platform

Linux only — the assembly is marked [SupportedOSPlatform("linux")]. It P/Invokes libasound; the runtime SONAME libasound.so.2 is resolved automatically (you do not need the -dev package). Install the ALSA runtime if it is missing:

sudo apt install libasound2t64  # Ubuntu 24.04+ (renamed from libasound2 in the t64 transition)
sudo apt install libasound2     # older Debian/Ubuntu

This package is not pulled in by the NAudio meta-package (there is no net9.0-linux TFM). Reference it explicitly:

dotnet add package NAudio.Alsa

Supported input formats

AlsaOut plays any IWaveProvider, so it is format-agnostic — what you can play depends on which decoder you feed it. MediaFoundationReader and the bundled Mp3FileReader / AudioFileReader are Windows-only, but the cross-platform NAudio.SoundFile package (libsndfile) decodes the compressed/free codecs on Linux:

Format Reader Status
WAV (PCM / IEEE float) WaveFileReader ✅ supported
AIFF (uncompressed PCM) AiffFileReader ✅ supported
Raw PCM RawSourceWaveStream ✅ supported
FLAC / Ogg-Vorbis / Opus SoundFileReader (NAudio.SoundFile) ✅ supported (needs system libsndfile)
MP3 SoundFileReader (libsndfile ≥ 1.1), or Mp3FileReaderBase + a managed IMp3FrameDecompressor (e.g. NLayer) ✅ / ⚠️
AAC / M4A / ALAC / WMA — ❌ no cross-platform decoder (FFmpeg territory)

SoundFileReader is the cross-platform MediaFoundationReader-style decoder (it is a WaveStream / ISampleProvider); add the NAudio.SoundFile package and a system libsndfile to play FLAC/Ogg/Opus/ MP3 through AlsaOut. NAudio.SoundFile also encodes those formats, so it pairs with AlsaIn to capture straight to FLAC/Ogg/Opus.

Play a WAV file

using NAudio.Wave;
using NAudio.Wave.Alsa;

using (var audioFile = new WaveFileReader("test.wav"))
using (var outputDevice = new AlsaOut())          // default device
{
    outputDevice.Init(audioFile);
    outputDevice.Play();
    while (outputDevice.PlaybackState == PlaybackState.Playing)
        Thread.Sleep(200);
}

Play FLAC/Ogg/Opus/MP3 with SoundFileReader (cross-platform, needs a system libsndfile — dotnet add package NAudio.SoundFile):

using NAudio.SoundFile;

using var audioFile = new SoundFileReader("test.flac");
using var output = new AlsaOut();
output.Init(audioFile);
output.Play();

Or play MP3 by wiring a managed decompressor into Mp3FileReaderBase (no native dependency):

// using NLayer.NAudioSupport;  // dotnet add package NLayer.NAudioSupport
using var mp3 = new Mp3FileReaderBase("test.mp3",
    waveFormat => new Mp3FrameDecompressor(waveFormat));
using var output = new AlsaOut();
output.Init(mp3);
output.Play();

Record to a WAV file

using NAudio.Wave;
using NAudio.Wave.Alsa;

using var writer = new WaveFileWriter("captured.wav", new WaveFormat(44100, 16, 2));
using var input = new AlsaIn { WaveFormat = writer.WaveFormat };
input.DataAvailable += (s, a) => writer.Write(a.Buffer, 0, a.BytesRecorded);
input.StartRecording();
Thread.Sleep(5000);
input.StopRecording();

Swap WaveFileWriter for NAudio.SoundFile's SoundFileWriter to capture straight to FLAC/Ogg-Vorbis/Opus instead of WAV.

Enumerate devices

foreach (var d in AlsaDeviceEnumerator.GetPlaybackDevices())
    Console.WriteLine($"{d.Name} - {d.Description}");

AlsaDeviceInfo.Name is passed straight to new AlsaOut(name) / new AlsaIn(name).

Notes

  • Output is taken through a SampleChannel, so AlsaOut.Volume is a real software gain and mono sources are handled. The device format is negotiated as IEEE float, else 16-bit, else 24-bit PCM.
  • Pause() uses hardware pause where the driver supports it, otherwise it drops and re-prepares the stream on resume.
  • A dedicated streaming thread does blocking I/O and recovers from xruns; it is always joined before the device handle is closed.

Documentation

See the NAudio documentation site for tutorials and the full API reference, or the GitHub repository for source, issues and demos.

License

MIT.

Product Compatible and additional computed target framework versions.
.NET net9.0 is compatible.  net9.0-android was computed.  net9.0-browser was computed.  net9.0-ios was computed.  net9.0-maccatalyst was computed.  net9.0-macos was computed.  net9.0-tvos was computed.  net9.0-windows was computed.  net10.0 was computed.  net10.0-android was computed.  net10.0-browser was computed.  net10.0-ios was computed.  net10.0-maccatalyst was computed.  net10.0-macos was computed.  net10.0-tvos was computed.  net10.0-windows was computed. 
Compatible target framework(s)
Included target framework(s) (in package)
Learn more about Target Frameworks and .NET Standard.

NuGet packages (2)

Showing the top 2 NuGet packages that depend on NAudio.Alsa:

Package Downloads
Uniform.Matrix.Audio

Voice audio for Matrix calls: Opus encoding and decoding, 20 ms voice frames from a microphone and to a speaker over NAudio, with ALSA on Linux and WASAPI on Windows.
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GitHub repositories (1)

Showing the top 1 popular GitHub repositories that depend on NAudio.Alsa:

Repository Stars
purelogiccode/SimpleLauncher
Simple Launcher is an open-source emulator frontend. Designed for both casual gamers and power users, it provides a seamless interface to organize, browse, and launch your retro gaming collection with deep integration for modern emulators and RetroAchievements.
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A feature and tidy-up release. Its headline is a first preview of macOS
support: the new `NAudio.MacOS` package wraps Core Audio for playback and
recording, Extended Audio File Services for reading and writing compressed
formats, and AudioConverter for resampling. It ships pre-release only while its
API settles, alongside the stable versions of the other packages. VB.NET users
also get base classes and a guide that keep the NAudio 2 array-based `Read`
signature.

Several legacy APIs that have modern replacements are now `[Obsolete]`, to be
removed in the next major version. The
fixes include `DirectSoundOut`, which failed every playback in 3.1.0, and
`WasapiPlayer`/`WasapiOut` getting stuck in the `Playing` state after a source
error.

* **macOS support (preview)** - A new wrappers library is added wrapping macOS native API's for playback/recording, reading/writing files and resampling audio. The `NAudio.MacOS` package ships pre-release only (`X.Y.Z-preview.N`) while its API settles, so it stays pre-release alongside stable releases of the other packages. Special thanks to @mdcdi1315 (#1325) for the work and the tests. For more information, see the [design](Docs/Architecture/MacOSWrappersDesign.md) doc that describes the decisions that helped shape the wrappers. (#1398)
* **VB.NET support** - Added `SampleProviderBase` and `WaveProviderBase`, base classes that keep the NAudio 2 `Read(buffer, offset, count)` signature for languages that cannot name a `Span<T>` in a method signature, and a [Using NAudio from VB.NET](Docs/UsingNAudioFromVB.md) guide covering playback, recording and custom providers from VB (#1426)
* Deprecated legacy APIs that have modern replacements: `Wave16ToFloatProvider`, `WaveFloatTo16Provider` and `Wave32To16Stream` (use `ToSampleProvider()` / `ToWaveProvider16()`), `IgnoreDisposeStream` (no longer needed), `ByteArrayExtensions` (use the BCL), `MidiMessage` (use the typed MIDI events), `ResamplerDmoStream`/`DmoResampler` (use `MediaFoundationResampler` or `WdlResamplingSampleProvider`), `DmoEffectWaveProvider` and the `Dmo*` effects (use `NAudio.Effects`), `AsioOut`'s recording path (use `AsioDevice`), `WaveFilter`, and `ProgressLog`. Added `AsioOut.IsSupported()` and deprecated the lowercase `isSupported()` (#1466)
* Deprecated `WaveFileReader.ReadNextSampleFrame` in favour of `ToSampleProvider()`, which supports more formats and doesn't allocate an array per sample frame (#1465)
* Reduced allocations when reading and writing WAV files, added `ReadOnlySpan<byte>` overloads of `WaveFileWriter.AddChunk` and `ChunkIdentifier.ChunkIdentifierToInt32`, and fixed `WaveChunks.GetData` leaving the stream position changed when a read fails. `ChunkIdentifierToInt32` now throws `ArgumentOutOfRangeException` for identifiers that aren't four bytes (#1457)
* Fixed `DirectSoundOut` failing every playback with `DirectSoundException 0x80004001` (or an `ArgumentException` for a format with extra data, e.g. one read from a WAV by `WaveFileReader`): the secondary buffer's `WAVEFORMATEX` was still a GCHandle-pinned `WaveFormat` instance — a site missed in the #1432 marshalling conversion, since `WaveFormat` no longer carries `[StructLayout]` — and now marshals via `WaveFormat.MarshalToPtr` (#1456)
* Fixed `WasapiPlayer` and `WasapiOut` being stranded in the `Playing` state, unable to play again, when the source's `Read` threw or the source ended before the first buffer was filled (#1442)
* Fixed `WaveFileWriter.WriteSample` and `WriteSamples(short[])` throwing for plain (non-extensible) 32-bit integer PCM formats (#1463)
* `WaveFileReader.ReadNextSampleFrame` now throws `InvalidDataException` for a WAV header with an invalid channel count or bit depth (#1464)
* Changed the `WaveStream.CurrentTime` setter to clamp to the bounds of the stream, and corrected the XML documentation for the core audio interfaces (#1441)
* Reworked the macOS `CoreAudioPlayer` and `CoreAudioRecorder` non-interleaved path, used for devices that expose one mono stream per channel; the recorder now also drains buffered audio when stopped, and non-interleaved streams carrying more than one channel are rejected explicitly (preview) (#1461)
* `ExtendedAudioFileServicesReader.CurrentTime` and `TotalTime` on macOS now throw `ObjectDisposedException` after the reader is disposed, rather than a native exception (preview) (#1451)
* Refreshed the NuGet package icon, now rendered from the new SVG version of the NAudio logo as a sharper, square 256×256 PNG (#1467)
* Fixed the Help and About links in the AudioFileInspector, MidiFileConverter and MixDiff sample apps, which threw on .NET 9 instead of opening the help page or browser, and pointed the links and help pages at GitHub rather than CodePlex (#1469)