pcmflux

pcmflux is a high-performance audio capture and encoding module for Python.

It is designed to capture system audio using PulseAudio, encode it into the Opus format, and stream it with low latency. A key optimization is its ability to detect and discard silent audio chunks, significantly reducing network traffic and CPU usage during periods of no sound.

Prerequisites

This package compiles a C++ extension and requires the development headers for PulseAudio and Opus to be installed on your system.

On Debian/Ubuntu, you can install them with:

sudo apt-get install libpulse-dev libopus-dev

Core Features

• PulseAudio Capture: Uses the pa_simple API for efficient, low-level audio capture.
• Opus Encoding: Integrates the high-quality, low-latency Opus codec.
• Silence Detection: Intelligently skips encoding and sending silent audio chunks.
• Python ctypes Wrapper: Provides a clean and simple Python API over a high-performance C++ core.
• Python Build System: Uses a robust Python build setup for compiling the C++ module and its dependencies.

Example Usage

The example directory contains a standalone demo that captures system audio, broadcasts it over a WebSocket, and plays it back in a web browser using the WebCodecs API.

To run the example:

1. Install the module: pip3 install .
2. Run the server: cd example && python3 audio_to_browser.py
3. Open http://localhost:9001 in a modern web browser (Chrome, Edge, etc.).