Digital Audio Tape (DAT) is a signal recording and playback medium developed by Sony in the mid 1980s. In appearance it is similar to a audio cassette, using 4 mm magnetic tape enclosed in a protective shell, but is roughly half the size. As the name suggests the recording is digital rather than analog. If a digital source is copied then the DAT will produce an exact clone, unlike other digital media such as Digital Compact Cassette or non-Hi-MD MiniDisc, both of which use lossy data compression.
Like most formats of videocassette, a DAT cassette may only be recorded on one side, unlike an analog compact audio cassette.