What does videotape mean?
Videotape is a recording medium consisting of magnetic tape on which moving images and sound can be captured and played back. It may also refer to the recording itself: someone might watch a videotape, transfer its contents to a computer, or preserve a home movie on videotape. Historically, videotape was a major home and broadcast technology, especially in the late twentieth century, when it was commonly used for camcorders, television recordings, and family archives. Today, the term is largely dated in everyday use because digital files, optical discs, and online streaming have replaced most cassette-based recording, but it remains useful when describing older media, archives, or the experience of recording television and family events on tape. The word can be both countable and uncountable, and the verb is still readily understood in contexts involving historical media or the physical transfer of recordings.
A magnetic tape used to record and play back moving images and sound, or a recording made on such tape.
"The library has a collection of educational videotapes from the 1980s."
Countable for a particular tape or recording; also used uncountably for the medium, as in “available on videotape.” The term is now mainly historical, archival, or nostalgic in ordinary use.
To record moving images and sound on videotape.
"The student videotaped the interview for her history project."
The usual forms are videotaped and videotaping. The verb now often describes recording material for transfer to a digital format or preserving an older tape-based recording.
The standard plural is “videotapes,” used for separate tapes or recordings.
"Several old videotapes were labeled and stored in the cabinet."
Before streaming, videotape was the family scrapbook you could rewind and replay.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of videotape
Videotape is a compound formed in the mid-twentieth century from video and tape, combining the idea of recorded visual material with the magnetic recording medium. The element video ultimately comes from Latin videō, meaning “I see,” and is related to words such as visual and vision. The compound was especially associated with the introduction and popularization of magnetic-tape video recording in the second half of the twentieth century.
Related word forms
How videotape is actually used
The word is used in both British and American English but is now dated or archival in most everyday contexts, since videotape has largely been replaced by digital video, DVDs, and streaming. It can also be used broadly for an older or less convenient recording technology, and its use may suggest nostalgia, preservation, or a low-tech medium.
Easily confused with videotape
A videotape is the recording medium or recording itself, whereas a videocassette is a plastic cassette containing magnetic tape.