Return to Video Glossary

IEEE 1394 (Firewire)

IEEE 1394 (Firewire): More commonly referred to as “Firewire,” refers to a high speed transfer interface developed by Apple. Firewire was fast enough to transfer digital video and became a standard interface for connecting consumer and professional digital video cameras to computers enabled with Firewire ports. Firewire 400 refers to the speed of data transfer and has been replaced by Firewire 800 which, as implied, doubles the data transfer speeds. Firewire 800 has not been widely adopted by the digital video community and, since Apple developed the much faster “Thunderbolt” interface, the future of Firewire remains uncertain. [ Video Glossary ]

Permanent link to this article: https://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/gettingstarted/glossary/videoglossary/ieee-1394-firewire/