Editing Sound card (section)

{{Short description|Expansion card that provides input and output of audio signals}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=June 2011}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2022}}

{{Infobox computer hardware
| name       = Audio interface
| image      = KL Creative Labs Soundblaster Live Value CT4670 (cropped and transparent).png
| caption    = A [[Sound Blaster]] Live! Value card, a typical (circa 2000) [[Peripheral Component Interconnect|PCI]] sound card
| conn1      = Motherboard
| via1_1     = [[Peripheral Component Interconnect|PCI]]
| via1_2     = [[Industry Standard Architecture|ISA]]
| via1_4     = [[USB]]
| via1_5     = [[FireWire]]
| via1_6     = [[IEEE 1284|IBM PC Parallel Port]]
| via1_8     = [[Micro Channel architecture|MCA]] (rare)
| via1_7     = [[PCI-E]]
| via1_9     = [[PCMCIA]] interfaces ([[PC Card]], [[Expresscard]])
| conn2      = Line in or out
| via2_1     = Analogue – [[Phone connector (audio)|phone]], [[RCA connector|RCA]] or [[DIN connector]]
| via2_2     = Digital – RCA, [[TOSLINK]], [[S/PDIF]] or [[AES/EBU]]
| conn3      = Microphone
| via3_1     = Phone connector
| via3_2     = PIN connector
| class-name = 
| class1     = 
| manuf1     = [[Creative Labs]] (and subsidiary [[E-mu Systems]])
| manuf2     = [[Realtek]]
| manuf3     = [[C-Media]]
| manuf4     = [[VIA Technologies]]
| manuf5     = [[ASUS]]
| manuf6     = [[M-Audio]]
| manuf7     = [[Turtle Beach Systems|Turtle Beach]]
}}

A '''sound card''' (also known as an '''audio card''') is an internal [[expansion card]] that provides [[input and output]] of [[audio signal]]s to and from a [[computer]] under the control of [[computer program]]s. The term ''sound card'' is also applied to external [[audio interface]]s used for [[professional audio]] applications.

Sound functionality can also be integrated into the [[motherboard]], using components similar to those found on plug-in cards. The integrated sound system is often still referred to as a ''sound card''. Sound processing hardware is also present on modern [[video card]]s with [[HDMI]] to output sound along with the video using that connector; previously they used a [[S/PDIF]] connection to the motherboard or sound card.

Typical uses of sound cards or sound card functionality include providing the audio component for multimedia applications such as music composition, [[Digital editing|editing]] video or audio, presentation, education and entertainment (games) and video projection. Sound cards are also used for computer-based communication such as [[voice over IP]] and [[teleconferencing]].