Technology & Computer Abbreviations

1,322 abbreviations in 14 subcategories

Hardware, software, networking, the web, programming, file formats, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, telecommunications and cloud computing. Technology produces new abbreviations faster than any other field; entries explain what each technology does and where you will encounter the term.

• Computer Hardware
• Programming
• Consumer Electronics
• File Format
• Networking
• Telecom
• Cybersecurity
• Computer
• Artificial Intelligence
• Internet & Web
• Software
• Cryptocurrency & Blockchain
• Cloud Computing
• Data & Database

Computer Hardware Abbreviations

Abbreviations for the physical parts of computers: processors and graphics chips, memory, storage drives and memory cards, expansion buses, ports and display connectors, power supplies, cases, peripherals and server hardware. These terms fill spec sheets, product listings and PC-building guides, and many come in confusing generations (DDR4 versus DDR5, PCIe 4.0 versus 5.0, USB 3.2 Gen 2 versus USB4). Entries explain what each part does, typical numbers and how to tell similar terms apart.

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Programming Abbreviations

Abbreviations used by software developers: interfaces and tooling (API, SDK, IDE), data formats (JSON, XML, YAML), design principles (DRY, KISS, SOLID), development practices (TDD, CI/CD), version control, language runtimes, computer-science fundamentals and code-review shorthand. Many appear in job ads, documentation and pull-request comments, and some, such as npm and pip, are deliberately playful or recursive names.

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Consumer Electronics Abbreviations

Abbreviations printed on TV boxes, store shelves and spec sheets for televisions and monitors, video resolutions and broadcast standards, home audio, headphones, cameras, virtual and augmented reality headsets, discs and tapes, batteries and chargers. Display terms such as 4K, HDR and OLED describe resolution, brightness range and panel technology, while audio terms such as ANC and TWS describe how headphones work. Entries explain what each label means in practice and where marketing names differ from the underlying technology.

All 104 consumer electronics abbreviations →

File Format Abbreviations

File extensions and format names for images, audio, video, documents, spreadsheets, archives, e-books, installers, fonts, 3D models and data exchange. Entries give the developer, the year of introduction, typical uses and whether the format compresses data losslessly or lossily, so you can choose the right format and know which program opens a file. Extensions are usually lowercase in file names (.pdf, .jpg) but written in capitals in ordinary text.

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Networking Abbreviations

Abbreviations from computer networking: internet protocols (IP, TCP, UDP, HTTP), addressing and naming (DNS, DHCP, NAT), network types (LAN, WAN, VPN), routing and switching (BGP, OSPF, VLAN, MPLS), Wi-Fi security, and email and file-transfer protocols. Most protocol names are defined in IETF Request for Comments (RFC) documents or IEEE 802 standards, and engineers usually pronounce them letter by letter.

All 113 networking abbreviations →

Telecom Abbreviations

Abbreviations from mobile phones and telecommunications: text and multimedia messaging, cellular generations and standards, SIM cards and device identifiers, carriers and network equipment, landline telephony, broadband over copper, cable, fiber and satellite, Wi-Fi generations, short-range wireless and satellite positioning. Most cellular standards are written by 3GPP and approved through the International Telecommunication Union, while Wi-Fi standards come from the IEEE 802.11 working group. Entries explain what each term means for phone and internet users as well as for engineers.

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Cybersecurity Abbreviations

Abbreviations from information security: authentication (2FA, MFA, SSO), attack types (DDoS, XSS, SQLi), vulnerability tracking (CVE, CVSS), security operations tools (SIEM, EDR, SOC), cryptography (AES, RSA, TLS), access-control models, compliance frameworks and professional certifications. Security vendors coin new acronyms frequently, so entries explain how similar-sounding categories such as EDR, XDR and MDR differ.

All 119 cybersecurity abbreviations →

Computer Abbreviations

General computing abbreviations covering operating systems, user interfaces, firmware and the boot process, character encoding, keyboard keys, file systems, command-line tools and IT administration. Many date from the personal-computer era of the 1970s to 1990s and still appear in system menus, error messages, help-desk tickets and job listings. Entries explain what each term means in practice and how it differs from look-alike abbreviations used elsewhere.

All 92 computer abbreviations →

Artificial Intelligence Abbreviations

Abbreviations from artificial intelligence and machine learning: core fields (AI, ML, NLP, computer vision), model architectures (CNN, RNN, GAN and transformer models such as GPT and BERT), training methods (RLHF, LoRA, SFT), evaluation metrics and the tools used to build and deploy models. Several abbreviations, such as CV, LDA and ANN, have two different meanings within machine learning itself, and each entry explains how to tell them apart.

All 103 artificial intelligence abbreviations →

Internet & Web Abbreviations

Abbreviations from the World Wide Web and web development: addresses and domains (URL, TLD), markup and styling languages (HTML, CSS), browser technologies (DOM, AJAX, WebRTC), rendering approaches (SPA, SSR, SSG), performance metrics such as Core Web Vitals, accessibility standards, and the bodies that publish web standards, such as the W3C and WHATWG.

All 76 Internet & web abbreviations →

Software Abbreviations

Abbreviations for software licensing, open-source and source-available licenses, release stages, support lifecycles, package management, app platforms and widely used applications. These terms appear in license agreements, release notes, app stores and IT procurement documents. Knowing the difference between a GPL and an MIT license, or between an RC build and a GA release, matters to anyone who ships, buys or maintains software.

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Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Abbreviations

Abbreviations from cryptocurrency and blockchain technology: coin and token tickers (BTC, ETH), consensus mechanisms (PoW, PoS), decentralized finance (DeFi, DEX, AMM), token standards, regulation, and the trading slang of crypto communities (HODL, FUD, DYOR). Prices and rankings change quickly, so entries explain what each term means rather than quoting current figures; nothing here is investment advice.

All 74 cryptocurrency & blockchain abbreviations →

Cloud Computing Abbreviations

Abbreviations from cloud computing and operations: service models (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS), service names from AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Oracle, virtualization and containers (VM, K8s), reliability targets (SLA, SLO, RTO) and infrastructure practices such as IaC and DevOps. Provider service names change over time, so entries note renamings where relevant.

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Data & Database Abbreviations

Abbreviations from databases, data engineering and analytics: database types and guarantees (RDBMS, ACID), SQL sublanguages and keys, data pipelines (ETL, ELT, CDC), warehousing and business intelligence (DWH, OLAP, BI) and big-data tools. These terms appear constantly in data-engineering job descriptions, database documentation and analytics platform comparisons.

All 53 data & database abbreviations →

Edited by the AbbreviationList.com team. Spotted an error or a missing meaning? Contact us.