PipeWire

What is PipeWire?

PipeWire started in 2019 as an experimental project to merge PulseAudio and JACK into a single, efficient backend. Over the past few years it has become the default sound server on many major distributions, including Fedora, Ubuntu, and Arch. The project is actively maintained, with regular releases and community contributions.

It targets developers, power users, and everyday consumers who need reliable audio and video routing. The API is compatible with existing PulseAudio and JACK applications, so most software continues to work without changes.

Compared to Windows tools such as Voicemeeter, PipeWire feels more integrated into the Linux ecosystem. It offers low‑latency processing, per‑application routing, and secure sandboxing, but it requires some command‑line configuration for advanced setups.

Best for: Users who need a modern, low‑latency audio/video backend that works with both PulseAudio and JACK applications.

Key features of PipeWire

• Unified audio and video server
• Low‑latency JACK compatibility
• Per‑application routing
• Secure sandboxing
• Built‑in media capture
• Extensible via plugins
• Native support for ALSA, PulseAudio, and JACK clients

Tips for Windows users

When moving from Voicemeeter, start by installing PipeWire and enabling the PulseAudio and JACK compatibility modules. Use pactl list and jack_lsp to inspect devices. Most file formats (WAV, MP3, OGG) are unchanged, but shortcuts may differ; for example, use pavucontrol instead of Voicemeeter’s GUI to adjust per‑application volumes. For routing, create a pipewire.conf or use pw-cli to set up custom pipelines. Remember that PipeWire uses systemd units for service management, so enable them with systemctl --user enable pipewire.