Audio/Connector/Phone

• Phone Connector (audio)

  • These have jacks and plugs.

  • Sample Visual Reference

    • 
    • Image: CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

  • Overview

    • Quick reference guide to the 3.5 mm (1/8 in) mini phone connector family, sometimes called the "mini-jack" or "mini audio jack"
    • A miniaturized version of the original 1/4 in (6.35 mm) phone connector
    • Same physical plug size across variants; the number of conductor bands (tip/ring/sleeve) determines what the connector can carry

  • Connector Comparison

    • Connector	Conductors	Typical Use
      Audio/Connector/Phone/TS/3.5mm	2 (tip, sleeve)	Mono unbalanced audio
      Audio/Connector/Phone/TRS/3.5mm	3 (tip, ring, sleeve)	Stereo unbalanced audio
      Audio/Connector/Phone/TRRS/3.5mm	4 (tip, ring, ring, sleeve)	Stereo audio + microphone (headset)

  • Related Sizes (not covered in detail here)

    • 2.5 mm (sub-mini): same tip/ring/sleeve concept, used on some older cordless phones and two-way radios
    • 6.35 mm / 1/4 in (standard phone connector): the original size, common in professional audio (guitar cables, studio patch bays)

  • TRRS Wiring Standards

    • TRRS adds a mic/ground ring, but two incompatible wiring orders exist:
      • CTIA/AHJ (Apple, most modern Android/Windows devices): tip = left, ring 1 = right, ring 2 = ground, sleeve = mic
      • OMTP (older Nokia and some Asian-market phones): tip = left, ring 1 = right, ring 2 = mic, sleeve = ground
    • Plugging a headset wired to one standard into a jack wired to the other leaves left/right audio unaffected but the microphone silent, since only the mic/ground pair is swapped