a) Having discrete states. Most digital logic is binary, with two states (on or off). b) A discontinuous electrical signal that carries information in binary fashion. Data is represented by a specific sequence of off-on electrical pulses. A method of representing data using binary numbers. An analog signal is converted to digital by the use of an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter chip by taking samples of the signal at a fixed time interval (sampling frequency). Assigning a binary number to these samples, this digital stream is then recorded onto magnetic tape. Upon playback, a digital-to-analog (D/A) converter chip reads the binary data and reconstructs the original analog signal. This process virtually eliminates generation loss as every digital-to-digital copy is theoretically an exact duplicate of the original allowing multi-generational dubs to be made without degradation.

In actuality of course, digital systems are not perfect and specialized hardware/software is used to correct all but the most severe data loss.

Digital signals are virtually immune to noise, distortion, crosstalk, and other quality problems. In addition, digitally based equipment often offers advantages in cost, features, performance, and reliability when compared to analog equipment.