Principle:Elevenlabs Elevenlabs python Audio Playback
| Knowledge Sources | |
|---|---|
| Domains | Audio_Processing, Media_Output |
| Last Updated | 2026-02-15 00:00 GMT |
Overview
A set of utility operations for consuming synthesized audio output by playing it through speakers, saving it to a file, or streaming it through a media player.
Description
Audio Playback encompasses the final stage of a TTS pipeline where generated audio bytes are delivered to the user. This involves three distinct operations:
- Play: Immediate playback through system speakers using ffplay, sounddevice, or IPython Audio
- Save: Persist audio bytes to a file on disk
- Stream: Progressive playback through mpv media player while simultaneously collecting the full audio
These utilities abstract away the platform-specific details of audio output and support both complete audio (bytes) and streaming audio (Iterator[bytes]) inputs. The streaming support is particularly important for low-latency TTS applications where audio chunks arrive progressively.
Usage
Use this principle after generating speech audio to deliver it to the end user. Choose play for immediate playback in scripts or notebooks, save for batch processing or file generation, and stream for real-time playback of streaming audio while also capturing the complete output.
Theoretical Basis
Audio output follows a consumer pattern for byte streams:
# Abstract pattern
audio_stream: Iterator[bytes] = tts_generate(text, voice)
# Option 1: Buffer and play
play(audio_stream) # Collects all chunks, then plays
# Option 2: Save to file
save(audio_stream, "output.mp3") # Writes chunks to disk
# Option 3: Stream with passthrough
full_audio = stream(audio_stream) # Plays progressively, returns full bytes