TOSLINK is a standardized optical fibre connection system. Its most common use is in consumer audio equipment, where it carries a digital audio stream between components such as MiniDisc and CD players. It uses inexpensive 1mm plastic optical fiber allowing low cost production. However, it often sells for more than copper-based cabling, perhaps because of a perceived "cool factor" of using newer fibre technology.
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 also be found on DVD players to connect the digital audio stream to Dolby Digital/DTS decoders.
TOSLINK has many applications, using several different connector types. However, audio connections using the JIS F05 connector are by far the most common.
TOSLINK is a registered trademark of Toshiba corporation. Variations of the name are often seen, such as TOSlink, TosLink, and Tos-link. The generic name for the standard is EIAJ optical.
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