IGRA Controlled Vocabulary Media Formats -- List of Preferred Terms

Cylinder recording

Scope Note: This term describes audio recordings engraved on cylinders of wax or other material, read by means of a stylus.
Source of Preferred Term: Encyclopedia Britannica (Britannica Online)
USE FOR:
- Wax cylinder
- Amberol cylinder
- Phonograph cylinder
- Phonocylinder

Scope Note: This term is used to describe discs, made of various materials (most notably vinyl), on which are etched sound recordings that are played by means of a stylus.
Source of Preferred Term: Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus
USE FOR
- Gramophone Record
- Vinyl Record
- Record
- Phonograph disc
- Phonorecord
- Phonodisc
- Phonograph recordings
- Gramophone recordings
Note: When using this entry, specify the diameter and RPM of the record using one of these selections:
- 12", 33 1/3 RPM
- 12", 45 RPM
- 12", 78 RPM
- 10", 78 RPM
- 7", 45 RPM
- 7", 45 RPM EP
- 16", 33 1/3 RPM
- 10", 33 1/3 RPM
- 10", 45 RPM
- 7", 33 1/3 RPM
- 7", 16 2/3 RPM
- Miscellaneous record

Scope Note: This term describes audio recordings encoded on lengths of wire.
Source of Preferred Term: Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus

Scope Note: This term is used to denote recordings encoded magnetically on reels of tape and played by feeding the tape through a reading mechanism onto an empty "takeup" reel.
Source of Preferred Term: AACR2, 6.5B1
USE FOR:
- Reel-to-reel recording
- Reel to reel recording
- Reel recording
Note: When using this entry, specify the ips (inches per second) of the record using one of these selections:
- 15/16 ips
- 1 7/8 ips
- 3 3/4 ips
- 7 1/2 ips
- 15 ips
- 30 ips

Scope Note: This term refers to an enclosed cartridge in which magnetic audio tape is stored on a single reel of tape and read continuously.
Source of Preferred Term: History of Sound Recording Technology, http://www.recording-history.org/HTML/8track1.php
USE FOR:
- Eight-track cartridge
- 8-track
- 8-track tape
- 8 track
- Eight track
- Eight-track tape
- Eight-track cassette
- 8-track cassette
- 8-track cartridge
- Eight-track

Scope Note: Previously popular audio format consisting of magnetic tape enclosed in a plastic cartridge, in which the tape moves between two reels.
Source of Preferred Term: Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus
USE FOR:
- Cassette
- Cassette tape
- Audiotape
- Cassette cartridge
- Audio cassette
- Audio cartridge
- Audio tape cassette
- Audio tape cartridge

Scope Note: Smaller version of audiocassette, primarily used for voice recording.
Source of Preferred Term: Sony History - http://www.sony.net/Fun/SH/1-21/h5.html
USE FOR:
- Minicassette
- Mini cassette
- Micro cassette
- Picocassette
- Pico cassette

Scope Note: This term is used to describe the large audiocassettes manufactured by Sony in the late 1970s.
Source of Preferred Term: White, Glenn D. The Audio Dictionary. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1987.
USE FOR:
- Elcassette
- El-cassette

Scope Note: This term describes an audio tape cartridge format developed by Sony that encodes sound on magnetic tape in a digital format.
Source of Preferred Term: Pohlmann, Ken C. Principles of Digital Audio, 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005, p. 201.
USE FOR:
- Digital Audio Tape cartridge
- Digital Audio Tape cassette
- DAT cassette

Scope Note: This term describes a plastic disc on which is encoded digital data that is read using a laser.
Source of Preferred Term: Encyclopedia Britannica (Britannica Online)
USE FOR:
- Compact disk
- CD
- Audio CD

Scope Note: This term describes a recent variation of the CD that stores multichannel audio recordings at a higher density and uses a different encoding system.
Source of Preferred Term: Pohlmann, Ken C. Principles of Digital Audio, 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005, p. 306.
USE FOR:
- Super Audio Compact Disc
- SACD
- Super Audio Compact Disk

Scope Note: This term is used to describe a high-density CD most often used to store video data.
Source of Preferred Term: Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus
USE FOR:
- Digital Video Disc
- Digital Video Disk
- Digital Versatile Disc
- Digital Versatile Disk
- Video disc
- Video disk

Scope Note: This term describes an optical disc that consists of a CD format on one side and a DVD format on the other.
Source of Preferred Term: Pohlmann, Ken C. Principles of Digital Audio, 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005, p. 421.
USE FOR:
- DualDisk
- Dual Disc
- Dual Disk

Scope Note: This term describes a miniaturized optical disc encased in a plastic cartridge.
Source of Preferred Term: Pohlmann, Ken C. Principles of Digital Audio, 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005, p. 487.
USE FOR:
- MiniDisk
- Mini Disc
- Mini Disk

Scope Note: This term, which stands for MPEG-1 Layer 3, describes a lossy digital format used to compress and store audio files.
Source of Preferred Term: Pohlmann, Ken C. Principles of Digital Audio, 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005, p. 374.
USE FOR:
- MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3
- .MP3
Note: Use this term only when describing audio recordings originally created in this format.

Scope Note: This term, which stands for Waveform Audio, describes a lossless audio format developed by Microsoft and IBM for compressing and storing audio files.
Source of Preferred Term: Pohlmann, Ken C. Principles of Digital Audio, 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005, p. 566.
USE FOR:
- Wave Form Audio Format
- .WAV
Note: Use this term only when describing audio recordings originally created in this format.

Scope Note: This term, which stands for Windows Media Audio, describes a proprietary audio format developed for Microsoft's Windows operating system, and used to store and compress audio files.
Source of Preferred Term: Pohlmann, Ken C. Principles of Digital Audio, 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005, p. 611.
USE FOR:
- Windows Media Audio
- .WMA
Note: Use this term only when describing audio recordings originally created in this format.