Discord Audio Stream

Designed for 24/7 Discord audio playback.
discord-audio-stream is a small TypeScript library for managed Discord voice playback through @discordjs/voice and ffmpeg.

Discord voice streams need careful lifecycle handling. This package manages the voice connection, ffmpeg process, raw PCM resource creation, optional reconnect renewal, and predictable cleanup so your bot code stays small and readable.

Recommended best practice:
Keep one AudioManager per guild, usually in a Map<string, AudioManager>. Update the connection or source through setConnection() and setSource(), then call start(). When playback stops, call stop(). When the manager will not be reused, call dispose() to release timers, streams, ffmpeg, and the voice connection.

For large bots:
Queue many simultaneous starts, for example with p-queue, so the host does not spawn too many ffmpeg processes in the same tick.

👋 Support

Please create an issue on GitHub or contact fraujulian on Discord.

📝 Usage

Installation

Node.js 22.22.3 or newer is required.

Install the library and the required voice packages:

npm install discord-audio-stream @discordjs/voice prism-media @snazzah/davey opusscript

libsodium-wrappers is optional. Install it only when your runtime does not support aes-256-gcm:

node -e "console.log(require('node:crypto').getCiphers().includes('aes-256-gcm'))"
npm install libsodium-wrappers

For bundled ffmpeg support, install ffmpeg-static and use ffmpeg.mode: 'static':

npm install ffmpeg-static

If ffmpeg is already available on the host PATH, use ffmpeg.mode: 'native'.

AudioManager Example

import { AudioManager } from 'discord-audio-stream';

const manager = new AudioManager({
    connection: {
        guildId: guild.id,
        channelId: voiceChannel.id,
        adapterCreator: guild.voiceAdapterCreator,
    },
    source: {
        type: 'url',
        url: 'https://example.com/live-stream.mp3',
    },
    ffmpeg: {
        mode: 'native',
    },
    renewIntervalMs: 5_400_000,
});

await manager.start();

For a file source:

manager.setSource({
    type: 'file',
    path: 'audio/intro.mp3',
});

await manager.start();

Relative file paths are resolved from process.cwd(). URL sources are validated before playback starts.

⚙️ API

Constructor

type AudioManagerOptions = {
    ffmpeg?: {
        mode?: 'native' | 'static';
        executablePath?: string;
        inputArgs?: readonly string[];
        outputArgs?: readonly string[];
    };
    connection?: {
        guildId: string;
        channelId: string;
        adapterCreator: DiscordGatewayAdapterCreator;
    };
    source?: { type: 'url'; url: string } | { type: 'file'; path: string };
    renewIntervalMs?: number | false;
    connectTimeoutMs?: number;
    volume?: {
        enabled?: boolean;
        initialPercent?: number;
    };
};

Defaults

Option	Default
ffmpeg.mode	'native'
connectTimeoutMs	20_000
renewIntervalMs	5_400_000
volume.enabled	false

Methods

Method	Description
setConnection(options)	Replaces the voice connection target.
setSource(source)	Replaces the audio source.
connect()	Joins the configured Discord voice channel.
play(source?)	Starts playback on an existing connection.
start()	Connects and starts playback.
pause()	Pauses active playback.
resume()	Resumes paused playback.
stop()	Stops playback, clears renewal, and destroys the voice connection.
setVolume(percent)	Sets volume from 0 to 100; requires volume.enabled: true.
dispose()	Idempotently releases timers, ffmpeg, streams, player state, and voice connection.

State

manager.state; // 'idle' | 'connecting' | 'ready' | 'playing' | 'paused' | 'stopped' | 'disposed'
manager.isPlaying;
manager.isConnected;

🔊 Audio Options

Volume

Inline volume has a runtime cost in @discordjs/voice, so it is disabled by default.

const manager = new AudioManager({
    connection,
    source,
    volume: {
        enabled: true,
        initialPercent: 50,
    },
});

await manager.start();
manager.setVolume(25);

Calling setVolume() without volume.enabled: true throws AudioManagerStateError.

ffmpeg Modes

• mode: 'native' uses the ffmpeg executable from the host environment.
• mode: 'static' resolves the optional ffmpeg-static package.
• executablePath overrides both modes and is useful for Docker images or custom ffmpeg builds.

Default output is raw Discord-compatible PCM: s16le, 48000 Hz, 2 channels.

You can override ffmpeg arguments through ffmpeg.inputArgs and ffmpeg.outputArgs. When you override them, you are responsible for keeping the output compatible with StreamType.Raw.

Renewal

By default, the manager schedules a renewal after 5_400_000 ms so long-running streams can reconnect periodically. Set renewIntervalMs: false to disable this behavior:

const manager = new AudioManager({
    connection,
    source,
    renewIntervalMs: false,
});

stop() and dispose() always clear the renewal timer.

🧯 Errors

The package exports these error classes:

• AudioManagerError
• AudioManagerConfigError
• AudioManagerStateError
• FfmpegProcessError

Configuration problems, such as a missing source or invalid URL, throw AudioManagerConfigError. Invalid lifecycle operations, such as calling pause() while nothing is playing, throw AudioManagerStateError.

🧑‍💻 Development

npm ci
npm run check
npm run build

📋 Contributors

~ FrauJulian - Julian Lechner - CODEOWNER

🤝 Enjoy the package?

Give it a star ⭐ on GitHub!