libcubeb is a cross-platform C library for high and low-latency audio input/output. It provides a simple, consistent API for audio playback and recording across multiple platforms and audio backends. It is written in C, C++ and Rust, with a C ABI and Rust bindings. While originally written for use in the Firefox Web browser, a number of other software projects have adopted it.

• Cross-platform support: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and other platforms
• Versatile: Optimized for low-latency real-time audio applications, or power efficient higher latency playback
• A/V sync: Latency compensated audio clock reporting for easy audio/video synchronization
• Full-duplex support: Simultaneous audio input and output, reclocked
• Device enumeration: Query available audio devices
• Audio processing for speech: Can use VoiceProcessing IO on recent macOS

Tier-1: Actively maintained. Should have CI coverage. Critical for Firefox.

Tier-2: Actively maintained by contributors. CI coverage appreciated.

Tier-3: Maintainers/patches accepted. Status unclear.

Tier-4: Deprecated, obsolete. Scheduled to be removed.

Note that the support level is not a judgement of the relative merits of a backend, only the current state of support, which is informed by Firefox's needs, the responsiveness of a backend's maintainer, and the level of contributions to that backend.

• CMake 3.15 or later
• Non-ancient MSVC, clang or gcc, for compiling both C and C++
• Platform-specific audio libraries (automatically detected)
• Optional but recommended: Rust compiler to compile and link more recent backends for macOS and PulseAudio

git clone https://github.com/mozilla/cubeb.git
cd cubeb
cmake -B build
cmake --build build

git clone --recursive https://github.com/mozilla/cubeb.git
cd cubeb
cmake -B build -DBUILD_RUST_LIBS=ON
cmake --build build

Windows: Supports Visual Studio 2015+ and MinGW-w64. Use -G "Visual Studio 16 2019" or -G "MinGW Makefiles".

macOS: Requires Xcode command line tools. Audio frameworks are automatically linked.

Linux: Development packages for desired backends:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install libpulse-dev libasound2-dev libjack-dev

# Fedora/RHEL
sudo dnf install pulseaudio-libs-devel alsa-lib-devel jack-audio-connection-kit-devel

Android: Use with Android NDK. AAudio requires API level 26+.

Run the test suite:

cd build
ctest

Use the interactive test tool:

./cubeb-test

Licensed under an ISC-style license. See LICENSE for details.

Contributions are welcome! Please see the contribution guidelines and check the issue tracker.

• GitHub Repository
• API Documentation