Switching from PulseAudio to PipeWire on Arch Linux

Tutorials & Resources
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Hello,

In the last few days I had / wanted to switch to Pirewire for 3 Arch Linux installations from Pulseaudio.

I thought that would be complicated and cause problems. That was not the case at all.
So I want to share my path with you if anyone needs it.

Install Pipewire

pacman -S pipewire-pulse pipewire-alsa

The package pulseaudio-bluetooth may need to be uninstalled

pacman -R pulseaudio-bluetooth

Activate and start services

systemctl --user enable pipewire.service
systemctl --user start pipewire.service
systemctl --user enable pipewire-pulse.service
systemctl --user start pipewire-pulse.service

Maybe a reboot is needed for some function key on Laptops.

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That is all???

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That was on 3 Arch Systems all (2 HP Notebooks and one Desktop PC).
Maybe it’s not always that easy.
Basically, “only” the old sound server must be uninstalled and Pipewire installed and activated.

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Someone I know had implied that he had a number of problems trying to switch from PulseAudio to pipewire - I don’t recall the details, just that he had had problems, which cooled my enthusiasm to try it. I happen to have an extra machine I can try it on, so I will give it a shot - no loss if there are problems. Thanks!!!

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For me Piewire is working better than PulseAudio.

Pulseudio very often changed my output device so that no sound could be heard. OBS Studio could not record sound with Pulseaudio and a few other problems…

So far I am very happy with Pipewire. Reaper and my audio interface also work great - but that also worked very well under Pulse.

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I know that problem well - the functional output device disappearing and no sound, usually when I am trying to log into a Zoom or Jitsi session. I will definitely give PipeWire a shot!

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