Cassette (format) in the context of "Videotape"

The following is a list providing an overview of all the different tape cartridge and cassette formats that use magnetic tape. Both "cassette" and "cartridge" refer to a small plastic unit containing a length of magnetic tape on at least one reel. The unit may contain a second "take-up" reel or interoperate with such a reel in an associated tape drive. At least 142 distinct types have been known to exist.

The phrase cassette tape is ambiguous in that there is no common dictionary definition so depending upon usage it has many different meanings, as for example any one the one of 106 different types of audio cassettes, video cassettes or data cassettes listed at The Museum of Obsolete Media.

The Microcassette (often written generically as microcassette) is an analog audio cassette storage format, introduced by Olympus in 1969.

It has the same width of magnetic tape as the Compact Cassette but in a cassette roughly one quarter the size. By using thinner tape and half or a quarter the tape speed, microcassettes can offer comparable recording time to the compact cassette but in a smaller package.

Audiotape is magnetic tape used for storing audio. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Audiotape can be used in various tape recorders including machines for reel-to-reel audio tape recording on open reels or they can be enclosed in cases that only have one reel (tape cartridge) or two reels (cassette).