(Digital Tape Format) A high-performance magnetic tape technology from Sony that was based on the helical scan transport and cartridge shell of Sony's highly successful 1/2" Digital Betacam. Providing up to 42GB of storage (DTF-1) with a sustained transfer rate of 12 Mbytes/sec, DTF drives were widely used for general enterprise-wide backup and storage area networks (SANs) as well as archiving video and recording seismic information. In 1999, the DTF-2 format increased capacity to 200GB and transfer rate to 24MB/s. Supplanted by LTO and SAIT, DTF was given end of life status in 2004 with support until 2011. See DIR, LTO, AIT and magnetic tape.