TOSLINK is a standardized optical fiber connection system. Its most common use is in consumer audio equipment (via a "digital optical" socket), where it carries a digital audio stream between components such as MiniDisc and CD players and DAT recorders. TOSLINK may use inexpensive 1 mm plastic optical fiber or it can use higher quality multi-strand plastic optical fibers or even quartz glass optical fibers depending on the desired bandwidth and application. Toshiba Corporations headquarters (Center) in Hamamatsucho, Tokyo Toshiba Corporation sales by division for year ending March, 31 2005 Toshiba Corporation ) (TYO: 6502 ) is a multinational high technology electrical and electronics manufacturing firm, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. ... Toshiba Corporations headquarters (Center) in Hamamatsucho, Tokyo Toshiba Corporation sales by division for year ending March, 31 2005 Toshiba Corporation ) (TYO: 6502 ) is a multinational high technology electrical and electronics manufacturing firm, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. ... Fiber Optic strands An optical fiber in American English or fibre in British English is a transparent thin fiber for transmitting light. ... Optical fibers An optical fiber (or fibre) is a glass or plastic fiber designed to guide light along its length by confining as much light as possible in a propagating form. ... Methods and media for sound recording are varied and have undergone significant changes between the first time sound was actually recorded for later playback until now. ... Digital audio comprises audio signals stored in a digital format. ... See also IBMs VM operating system family, where minidisk refers to a logical unit of storage. ... A Compact Disc or CD is an optical disc used to store digital data, originally developed for storing digital audio. ... Digital audio tape can also refer to a compact cassette with digital storage. ...

TOSLINK was originally created by Toshiba to connect their CD players to their receivers for PCM audio streams, but it was soon adopted for most CD players, regardless of manufacturer. Early TOSLINK systems used raw data from the CD player, but the S/PDIF standard has now become fairly universal for audio streams. It can often be found on DVD players and some game consoles to connect the digital audio stream to Dolby Digital/DTS decoders. Toshiba Corporations headquarters (Center) in Hamamatsucho, Tokyo Toshiba Corporation sales by division for year ending March, 31 2005 Toshiba Corporation ) (TYO: 6502 ) is a multinational high technology electrical and electronics manufacturing firm, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. ... The word receiver has a number of different meanings: In communications and information processing, a receiver is the recipient (observer) of a message (information), which is sent from a source (object). ... PCM is an initialism which can have different meanings: Phase Change Material Pulse-code modulation, a way to digitally encode signals representing sound and their video counterparts Potential Cancer Marker Communist Party of Mexico Plug Compatible Manufacturer Power-train control module, a computer in a car which controls the car... S/PDIF or S/P-DIF stands for Sony/Philips Digital Interface Format, also IEC 958 type II, part of IEC-60958. ... Dolby Digital is the marketing name for a series of lossy audio compression technologies by Dolby Laboratories. ... DTS DTS (formerly known as Digital Theater Systems), owned by DTS Inc (NASDAQ: DTSI), is a multi-channel surround sound format used for both commercial/theatrical and consumer grade applications (with significant technical differences between home and commercial/theatrical variants: the latter being a traditional ADPCM compression system and the...

TOSLINK has many applications, using several different connector types. However, audio connections using the EIAJ/JEITA RC-5720 (also CP-1201 and JIS C5974-1993 F05) connector are by far the most common. Founded in 1948, the Electronic Industries Association of Japan (EIAJ) was one of two Japanese electronics trade orginizations that were merged into the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA). ...

TOSLINK Signal cables must be limited to below 10 meters or, in many cases, under 5 for reliable transmission unless using a signal booster.

The real benifit to optical fiber for audio is that it is not succeptable to line noise or other electromagnetic phenomena.

TOSLINK is a registered trademark of Toshiba Corporation and hence the origin of the name: TOShiba-LINK. Variations of the name are often seen, such as TOSlink, TosLink, and Tos-link. The generic name for the standard is EIAJ optical. A trademark or trade mark[1] is a distinctive sign of some kind which is used by an individual, business organization or other legal entity to uniquely identify the source of its products and/or services to consumers, and to distinguish its products or services from those of other entities. ...

Occasionally, one may encounter terms for technology similar to TOSLINK, such as ADAT Lightpipe or simply ADAT Optical. This is most often seen in the professional music/audio industry. While the ADAT Lightpipe format utilizes the same JIS F05 connectors as TOSLINK, it should be noted that the ADAT Lightpipe format is NOT compatible with the TOSLINK format. TOSLINK is capable of sending only 3 simultaneous channels of audio, while the ADAT Lightpipe format accommodates up to 8 simultaneous channels of audio. The ADAT lightpipe, officially the ADAT Optical Interface, is a standard for the transfer of digital audio between equipment. ...

There also exist Mini-TOSLINK jacks, which are commonly found on Apple computers. These provide the same capabilities, but are exactly the same size and shape as the ubiquitous 3.5 mm stereo minijack. Adapters are available to connect a TOSLINK cable to a Mini-TOSLINK jack. Apple Inc. ... TRS connector 2. ...

External links

• TOSLINK Interconnect History & Basics
• TOSLINK Product Guide