TRS Cable - Wikipedia

Not to be confused with telephone jack and plug, phone charger, or the similarly-spelled phono connector (RCA connector). "Pentaconn" redirects here. For the camera manufacturer, see Pentacon.

A phone connector is a family of cylindrically-shaped electrical connectors primarily for analog audio signals. Invented in the late 19th century for telephone switchboards, the phone connector remains in use for interfacing wired audio equipment, such as headphones, speakers, microphones, mixing consoles, and electronic musical instruments (e.g. electric guitars, keyboards, and effects units). A male connector (a plug), is mated into a female connector (a socket), though other terminology is used.

Plugs have 2 to 5 electrical contacts. The tip contact is indented with a groove. The sleeve contact is nearest the (conductive or insulated) handle.[1] Contacts are insulated from each other by a band of non-conductive material. Between the tip and sleeve are 0 to 3 ring contacts. Since phone connectors have many uses, it is common to simply name the connector according to its number of rings:

Abbreviation (full name)	Contacts	Typical uses	Plug appearance
TS (tip sleeve)	2	mono audio
TRS (tip ring sleeve)	3	stereo audio
		mono audio (balanced)
		MIDI[2]
TRRS (tip ring ring sleeve)	4	stereo headset with mono microphone
		video with stereo audio
TRRRS (tip ring ring ring sleeve)	5	stereo audio (balanced)

The sleeve is usually a common ground reference voltage or return current for signals in the tip and any rings. Thus, the number of transmittable signals is less than the number of contacts.

The outside diameter of the sleeve is 6.35 millimetres (1⁄4 inch) for full-sized connectors, 3.5 mm (1⁄8 in) for "mini" connectors, and only 2.5 mm (1⁄10 in) for "sub-mini" connectors. Rings are typically the same diameter as the sleeve.

Contents

• 1 Other terms
• 2 Historical development
  • 2.1 Military variants
  • 2.2 Miniature size
  • 2.3 Broadcast usage
  • 2.4 Patch bay connectors
  • 2.5 Less common
  • 2.6 Decline of phone connector sockets in consumer goods
• 3 Aviation and US military connectors
• 4 General use
• 5 Computer sound
  • 5.1 Microphone power
  • 5.2 TRRS headset sockets
  • 5.3 Surround sound
  • 5.4 Combined TRS and TOSLINK
• 6 Compatibility for different numbers of rings
• 7 Video
• 8 Recording equipment
• 9 Mobile devices
  • 9.1 TRRS standards
    • 9.1.1 Interoperability
  • 9.2 TRRRS standards
• 10 Switch contacts
• 11 Design
• 12 Audio signals
  • 12.1 Balanced audio
    • 12.1.1 Advantages
    • 12.1.2 Disadvantages
  • 12.2 Unbalanced audio
• 13 See also
• 14 Explanatory notes
• 15 References
• 16 External links