What does audiotape mean?
Audiotape refers to magnetic tape coated with a magnetizable material, used to record and play back sound. Emerging in the mid-twentieth century alongside reel-to-reel recorders and later compact cassettes, it became the dominant medium for music, journalism, dictation, and archival recording before digital formats displaced it. The noun can denote either the physical tape itself — as in 'a spool of audiotape' — or the recorded material stored on it, as in 'the testimony exists on audiotape.' It also functions as a verb meaning to record sound on tape. Today the word is neutral but nostalgic, often invoked when describing historical recordings, oral histories, or recovered evidence from earlier decades. Its decline parallels that of vinyl and film photography: still understood everywhere, yet tied firmly to an analog past.
Magnetic tape used for recording sound; also a sound recording made on such tape.
"The station kept decades of broadcasts on audiotape in its basement archives."
To record sound on magnetic tape.
"They audiotaped the lecture so students could review it later."
Less common than the noun; often replaced simply by 'tape' or 'record.'
Standard plural; used when referring to multiple tapes or multiple individual recordings.
"The archive holds hundreds of audiotapes from the 1970s."
Before streaming and hard drives, entire histories — courtrooms, oral traditions, hit albums — lived on ribbons of audiotape no wider than a pencil.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of audiotape
Audiotape is a twentieth-century compound formed from 'audio,' from Latin 'audire' meaning 'to hear,' and 'tape,' referring to the magnetic strip used in recording. The compound arose in the 1940s and 1950s as magnetic sound recording spread commercially. It shares its Latin root with words like audible, auditory, audience, and audiovisual.
How audiotape is actually used
The word carries a distinctly retro flavor today, evoking analog-era technology; it is neutral in register but increasingly historical in connotation. As a verb, 'to audiotape' means to record sound on tape, though this use is less common than the noun.
Easily confused with audiotape
Videotape records moving images with sound, whereas audiotape records sound only.