Glossary
Audio and Video Technician Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential audio and video technician terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key audio and video technician vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in audio and video technician training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Aspect ratio
- Width-to-height ratio.
- Confidence monitor
- A screen facing presenters.
- Encoder
- Converts video for streaming.
- Feedback
- Squealing from audio loops.
- Front of house
- The main audience mix position.
- HDMI
- A digital video cable.
- Hybrid event
- In-person and online event.
- Lavalier mic
- A small clip-on microphone.
- Load-in
- Bringing equipment into a venue.
- Resolution
- Number of pixels in video.
- Run of show
- The event schedule.
- Signal flow
- The path signals travel.
- Strike
- Taking down and packing equipment.
- Switcher
- A device that switches video sources.
- XLR
- A common audio cable.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Audio and Video Technician practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Audio and Video Technician training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.