---
title: "SoX"
category: "Audio and video"
tagline: "The command-line Swiss Army knife for converting, editing and recording audio."
source: "pacman"
package: "sox"
command: "sox"
code: "https://codeberg.org/sox_ng/sox_ng"
---

## What it is

SoX (Sound eXchange) is a command-line tool for audio. It converts between audio formats, changes sample rates, trims, joins and normalizes files, and applies effects such as fades, reverb and noise reduction. It also includes `play` and `rec` for playing and recording from the terminal. Arch's package is built from sox_ng, a maintained continuation of the original SoX.

```
sox input.wav output.flac rate 44100
```

## Why it's here

- **Audio in scripts.** Batch-convert or trim recordings without opening an editor.
- **Quick record and play.** `rec memo.wav` records from your microphone.

## On CoreDesktop

CoreDesktop installs SoX from pacman. Run `sox`, `play` or `rec` in a terminal. `update` keeps it current with the rest of the pacman packages.