: an act or instance of reproducing recorded sound or pictures often immediately after recording
played back; playing back; plays back
: to perform a playback of (a usually recently recorded disc or tape)
Examples of playback in a Sentence
Noun
The band listened to a playback of their first recording.
Recent Examples on the Web
Mark Sparrow, Forbes, 3 Nov. 2024
The company also recently announced major project updates to YouTube that include a sleep timer, customizable playback speeds, the ability to create custom playlist thumbnails using generative AI and more.
—Caitlin Huston, The Hollywood Reporter, 29 Oct. 2024
Rob Pegoraro, PCMAG, 22 Oct. 2024
However, moving the mute button to the left makes way for a new loop button: Currently, videos automatically repeat forever when played back in Google Photos.
—Paul Monckton, Forbes, 18 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for playback 
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Noun
For those who enjoy listening to music from playlists, the provision of gapless playback at levels up to 24-bit/192kHz.
—Mark Sparrow, Forbes, 3 Nov. 2024
The company also recently announced major project updates to YouTube that include a sleep timer, customizable playback speeds, the ability to create custom playlist thumbnails using generative AI and more.
—Caitlin Huston, The Hollywood Reporter, 29 Oct. 2024
Verb
Musicians, podcasters, and other audio content creators may want to turn up the volume when playing back Qualcomm’s stream of the keynote: Microsoft will soon ship a series of driver and software updates that should ease connecting instruments to PCs.
—Rob Pegoraro, PCMAG, 22 Oct. 2024
However, moving the mute button to the left makes way for a new loop button: Currently, videos automatically repeat forever when played back in Google Photos.
—Paul Monckton, Forbes, 18 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for playback
Dictionary Entries Near playback
Cite this Entry
“Playback.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/playback. Accessed 17 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
playback
1 of 2 noun
play·back
ˈplā-ˌbak 
: the action of reproducing recorded sound or pictures often immediately after recording
play back
2 of 2 verb(ˈ)plā-ˈbak
: to perform a playback of (a disc or tape)
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