Audio cables are electrical cables or wires with specific characteristics to transmit audio signals. There are many different products. Coaxial cables consist of two cylindrical conductors that are separated by a dielectric, but which have a common axis. RG6 and RG11 audio cables are inexpensive, unbalanced coaxial cables which consist of a central, metallic core surrounded by a layer of insulating material. RG6 audio cables are used in many cable television and satellite applications. RG11 cables are used as thick Ethernet (thicknet) cabling. Fiber optic cables are relatively expensive and difficult to install, but provide near-infinite bandwidth and near-perfect immunity to noise. Audio cables also include closed circuit television (CCTV) cables, community antenna television (CATV) cables, general-purpose audio cables, multi-signal or composite cables, and power limited tray cables (PLTC). For each type of audio cable, performance specifications include the number of conductors, nominal outer diameter, impedance, and operating temperature. 

Audio cables differ in terms of cable shielding, cable insulation, and conductor size. Cable shielding types include braid, drain wire or copper wire, foil or copper tape, and foil braid. Braids include many types of woven, fibrous, and protective outer coverings. Drain wire is an uninsulated cable wire that is laid over the component or components and used as a ground connection. Thin foil, copper foil, and braided foil are also used as shielding for audio cables. Choices for cable insulation include ethylene propylene diene elastomer (EPDM), mica tape, neoprene, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), silicon rubber, Teflon®, and Tefzel®. Teflon and Tefzel are registered trademarks of DuPont. In terms of conductor size, audio cables are often measured in American Wire Gauge (AWG) and specified as AWG 2/0, AWG 3/0, and AWG 4/0. Conductor sizes that are larger than AWG 4/0 are measured in thousand circular mils (MCM). Outside of North America, wire conductor sizes for audio cables are measured in square millimeters (mm²).   

There are many connector types for audio cables. Examples include flexible flat cable connectors (FFC), flat printed circuit connectors (FPC), high-speed serial data connection (HSSDC) and HSSDC2, high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI), gigabit interface converter (GBIC), and media interface adapter (MIA). Audio cables also use connector types such as Telco 50, USB Type A, USB Type B, AdvancedTCA, RCAM, Centronics, High Density 15, and BNC.  There are two main types of Centronics connectors for audio applications: Centronics 36 and Centronics 50. Centronics 36 connectors are used for standard parallel Centronics printers. They are similar to the Centronics 50 connector, but not as wide. Other types of connectors for audio cables are also available.