A tape recording is sound captured on magnetic tape so it can be played back later. Before digital technology, tape recorders were the main way people recorded music, voices, and other sounds. The recorder worked by arranging tiny magnetic particles on a strip of plastic tape in patterns that matched the sound waves.

Tape recordings revolutionized how people experienced music and information. Musicians could record an album in a studio and send copies everywhere. Families recorded messages for relatives overseas. Reporters interviewed people and played the recordings back later to write their stories accurately. Students used cassette tapes to record lectures.

You might have seen old cassette tapes or VHS tapes, which are both types of magnetic tape. Though most recording today happens digitally on computers and phones, tape recorders were essential technology for about 50 years. Some musicians still prefer the warm, slightly imperfect sound quality of tape recordings over crisp digital files.

The term can also describe the physical object: a tape recording found in the attic might contain your grandmother's voice from decades ago.