videotape
n.a long strip of magnetic plastic used to record and play back movies or home videos. You might remember these as the large black cassettes used before DVDs and streaming became popular.
n.a magnetic recording medium in the form of a plastic strip, used for storing video and audio signals. While largely replaced by digital formats, it remains a significant historical medium for television production and home entertainment.
“I found an old videotape of my third birthday party.”
“The detective spent hours reviewing the grainy footage on the videotape to identify the suspect's vehicle.”
“Archivists are working quickly to digitize historical records stored on magnetic videotape before the physical material degrades and the playback hardware becomes entirely obsolete.”
Uncountable when referring to the material itself; countable when referring to individual cassettes.
From video + tape, a trademark of media company Ampex.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.