Before the MP3, CD, and minidisc, there was the cassette tape where music-lovers meticulously spent time perfecting their mixtapes. Soon, the humble tape could be making a come back and storing more than just songs. Fuji Film in Japan and IBM in Switzerland, have developed an ultra-dense tape that can store up to 35 terabytes of data.

The compact cartridge meansures just 10cm x 10cm x 2cm and could replace external hard drives that are currently facing physical limits. The low-cost and energy efficient tape is able to store everything including music, HD movies, e-books, and documents. The large amount of storage is achieved by coating the magnetic tape in particles of barium ferrite.

 New Scientist