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As of 2012 there are multiple sound servers; some focus on providing very low latency, while others concentrate on features suitable for general desktop systems. While diversification allows a user to choose just the features that are important to a particular application, it also forces developers
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to accommodate these options by necessitating code that is compatible with the various sound servers available. Consequently, this variety has resulted in a desire for a standard API to unify efforts.
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were recognized. OSS is a basic sound interface that was incapable of playing multiple streams simultaneously, dealing with multiple sound cards, or streaming sound over the network.
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This article is about a form of computer program that runs in the background. For computers that stream audio over a network, see
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The "sound stack" can be visualized as follows, with programs in the upper layers calling elements in the lower layers:
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With a sound server, users can also configure global and per-application sound preferences.
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Sound servers appeared in Unix-like operating systems after limitations in
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operating system, a sound server mixes different data streams (usually raw
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A sound server can provide these features by running as a
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