DAT stands for Digital Audio Tape, a format for recording digital audio on magnetic tape.

Released in the late 1980s, DAT became the standard in professional and semi-professional studios for recording the final mix (mixdown) and for mastering during the 1990s and early 2000s. It allowed for high-quality digital recordings (usually 16-bit/48kHz) on a small cassette tape, far superior to analog cassette tapes.

Technically, the most common format is R-DAT, which uses a rotating recording head, similar to that of a There was also a rarer format, the S-DAT, with stationary heads. Although today it has been completely replaced by solid-state recorders and direct-to-computer recording, DAT was a crucial transitional technology between the analog and digital worlds.