# Play Sound (OSC 440)

> Play a sound file, mintty's extension.

- **Sequence:** `OSC 440 ; Pt ST`
- **ECMA-48:** [§8.3.89 OSC – Operating System Command, p. 51](https://archive.org/details/ecma-48-5th-edition-june-1991/page/n64/mode/1up)
- **Specification:** [mintty's control sequences: audio support](https://github.com/mintty/mintty/wiki/CtrlSeqs#audio-support)

`OSC 440 ; Pt ST` is mintty's: it plays a sound. `Pt` is the name of a
`.wav` file in the `sounds` directory of mintty's configuration, or the path
of one, optionally followed by options separated by `:`. With `async` the
sound plays while the terminal goes on with its input; `nostop` skips it if
an asynchronous sound is already playing; and `loop` plays it over and over,
asynchronously. An empty `Pt` stops a sound playing asynchronously. mintty
added it in 3.5.2 and marks it experimental
([control sequences](https://github.com/mintty/mintty/wiki/CtrlSeqs#audio-support),
[`termout.c`](https://github.com/mintty/mintty/blob/3.8.3/src/termout.c#L5260)).
It is not the [bell](https://control-codes.page/c0/bel/index.html.md): nothing rings.

A default xterm has no `OSC 440` and ignores it
([the OSC numbers it knows](https://github.com/ThomasDickey/xterm-snapshots/blob/xterm-411a/misc.c#L3476-L3504)).
The cases follow xterm.

libghostty-vt does not recognize `OSC 440` either: its OSC parser in
`osc.zig` has no state for the number, so the string is dropped, and the
cases pass.

## Support

| Terminal | Version | Support | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| VT220 | [manual](https://vt100.net/docs/vt220-rm/), 2nd ed., 1984 | No | OSC is not among the controls it recognizes ([§4.2](https://vt100.net/docs/vt220-rm/chapter4.html#S4.2)) |
| VT510 | [manual](https://vt100.net/docs/vt510-rm/), 1st ed., 1993 | No | ignores an OSC string ([chapter 4](https://vt100.net/docs/vt510-rm/chapter4.html)) |
| xterm | patch 412, [xterm-411a](https://github.com/ThomasDickey/xterm-snapshots/tree/xterm-411a) | No | ignored |
| libghostty-vt | [83edd49](https://github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty/tree/83edd491e3024ae5e50393d62877b8897da1cccd) | No | ignored |
| Konsole | 26.11.70, [a24c3d71](https://invent.kde.org/utilities/konsole/-/tree/a24c3d71be3684f24d030aa2dbe9bd723d985233) | No | not among the OSC numbers it handles ([`Vt102Emulation.h`](https://invent.kde.org/utilities/konsole/-/blob/a24c3d71be3684f24d030aa2dbe9bd723d985233/src/Vt102Emulation.h#L189-L205)) |
| ConEmu | build 230724, its [documentation](https://conemu.github.io/en/AnsiEscapeCodes.html) | No | not in its [ANSI escape codes](https://conemu.github.io/en/AnsiEscapeCodes.html) |
| mintty | 3.8.3, its [documentation](https://github.com/mintty/mintty/wiki/CtrlSeqs) | Yes | plays the file, with `async`, `nostop` and `loop` ([control sequences](https://github.com/mintty/mintty/wiki/CtrlSeqs#audio-support)) |

## Validation

### OSC440-1: Nothing on screen, and no bell

Input, one step per line:

```text
A
\e]440;notify.wav:async\a
B
```

Expected screen:

```text
|AB____|
cursor 1,3
bell 0
reply none
```

---

This is the Markdown version of <https://control-codes.page/osc/sound/>. On that page every validation case runs live in libghostty-vt, the terminal emulation core of Ghostty, compiled to WebAssembly.

The validation cases are written in the notation described in <https://control-codes.page/notation/index.html.md>.