Editing Phonograph record (section)

{{Short description|Disc-shaped analog sound storage medium}}
{{For-multi|the magazine|Phonograph Record (magazine){{!}}''Phonograph Record'' (magazine)|cylinder recordings formerly commonly called phonograph records|Phonograph cylinder}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
[[File:Vinilos distintos tamaños.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Three vinyl records of different formats, from left to right: a 12-inch [[LP record|LP]], a 10-inch LP, a 7-inch [[Single (music)|single]]]]

A '''phonograph record''' (also known as a '''gramophone record''', especially in British English) or a '''vinyl record''' (for later varieties only) is an [[analog signal|analog]] sound [[Recording medium|storage medium]] in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near the outside edge and ends near the center of the disc. The stored sound information is made audible by playing the record on a [[phonograph]] (or "gramophone", "turntable", or "record player").

Records have been produced in different formats with playing times ranging from a few minutes to around 30 minutes per side. For about half a century, the discs were commonly made from [[shellac]] and these records typically ran at a rotational speed of 78 [[rpm]], giving it the nickname "'''78s'''" ("seventy-eights"). After the 1940s, "vinyl" records made from [[polyvinyl chloride]] (PVC) became standard replacing the old 78s and remain so to this day; they have since been produced in various sizes and speeds, most commonly 7-inch discs played at 45 rpm (typically for [[Single (music)|singles]], also called '''45s''' ("forty-fives")), and 12-inch discs played at 33⅓ rpm (known as an [[LP record|LP]], "long-playing records", typically for full-length [[album]]s) – the latter being the most prevalent format today.