VHS tapes are an analog video format, used in VCRs and early camcorders. With 240 lines of resolution, VHS tapes have low video and audio quality. The large size of the tapes means that VHS camcorders have to be big and heavy. VHS tapes were invented by JVC, and were first used in 1976. VHS stands for Video Home System.

Because of the limitations of VHS, VHS-C (for compact) and S-VHS (for super) were later developed. VHS-C was used in a lot of camcorders. Its main advantage is that it is a smaller size than a VHS tape, but it used the same tape so it could be played in a normal VCR with an adapter. VHS tapes were made obsolete by 8mm, although VHS-C camcorders are still common in the low-end analog consumer market.