Digital8 (or D8) is a consumer digital recording videocassette for camcorders developed by Sony, and introduced in 1999.
The Digital8 format is a combination of the earlier analog Hi8 tape transport with the digital DV codec. Digital8 equipment uses the same videocassettes as analog recording Hi8 equipment, but the signal is encoded digitally using the industry-standard DV codec, which means it has identical digital audio and digital video specifications compared with DV.
Digital8 cassettes are identical to Video8/Hi8 cassettes and have dimensions of 95 mm × 62.5 mm × 15 mm.
This is likely a reflection of Sony's design and market objectives for Digital8 format: to serve as a lower cost upgrade path for current customers (from analog 8 mm), by leveraging existing manufacturing infrastructure of 8 mm video equipment, and offering a familiar media format but with digital capabilities. Furthermore, Digital8 was released some time after MiniDV, giving the rival DV format a lead in the professional market.
Digital8 is an obsolete format. By 2004 Sony, the format's original backer, was the only company still producing Digital8 equipment, and had no plans to develop new Digital 8 cameras. By 2005, the Digital8 product line catered purely to entry-level consumers.