my $ogg_fh = new FileHandle "ogg123...."; my $lame_fh= new FileHandle "lame....."; my $pipe = new FileHandle "$ogg_fh | $lame_fh &"; .... # now close your pipe and then lame and ogg123 # you should be able to just undef the handles # as this should call close automatically $pipe->close(); $lame_fh->close(); $ogg_fh->close();