verb
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To convert data or signals, such as images, text, or sound, to digital form.
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See more at A/D converter
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of digitize
Explanation
When you digitize something, you adapt it into a form that can be read by a computer. Publishers digitize books so they can be read on e-readers, tablets, and smartphones. You can digitize your parents' old photographs by scanning them and then uploading them. And since record companies started to digitize music, that's increasingly how people listen to it — while you may enjoy playing records on an old turntable, you probably listen to new music using an app on your phone or computer. Since 1953, this verb has been used to mean "convert into a sequence of digits," specifically digits a computer can read.
Vocabulary lists containing digitize
Computer Science and Technology - Introductory
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Computer Science and Technology - Middle School
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Computer Science and Technology - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Its customers see a return on investment of more than 800% from its products, which help digitize physical infrastructure.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
In recent months, “ET” has undertaken a massive project to digitize and preserve all 11,600-plus episodes made since its founding host Mary Hart first signed on when Ronald Reagan was in the White House.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 23, 2026
The French retailer said Wednesday that it signed a partnership with artificial-intelligence company Vusion to digitize its hypermarkets and supermarkets in its home country.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2026
And a World War I museum in Missouri had a raft of historic documents it needed to digitize.
From Salon ● Feb. 7, 2026
Their film collection was gone, save a few pieces that Molly had managed to digitize.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
Mr. Stein, a veteran journalist, makes good use of recent resources, including modern secondary research and digitized newspaper archives.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
During a scrap of time between active investigations, Stafford opened the digitized files from Cynthia’s case.
From Slate ● Apr. 6, 2026
"When specimens are digitized, we can build libraries of organisms that can streamline their use from scientific laboratories to classrooms to Hollywood studios."
From Science Daily ● Mar. 10, 2026
AI talent studio Xicoia, which created Norwood, has announced plans for a “rapid expansion” for the digitized actor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 2, 2026
“Hazel Grace, could I, with my meager intellectual capacities, make up a letter from Peter Van Houten featuring phrases like ‘our triumphantly digitized contemporaneity’?”
From "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green
Last year, it attained a valuation of $2.96 billion and recently finished two years of digitizing maps and other documents from the state archives in neighboring Zambia, where it hit pay dirt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 28, 2026
Financial institutions are increasingly tokenizing funds, which refers to digitizing these funds to trade on blockchain ledgers.
From Barron's ● Mar. 16, 2026
Hefner said the foundation was digitizing the images and expressed concern they could be sold or lost in a data leak.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2026
Much of Tansey’s work involves digitizing documents from physical structures, such as property records, floor plans, and blueprints.
From Slate ● Jul. 25, 2025
Molly had even expressed interest in finally getting around to digitizing their film collection as a pretext to learning how to edit video content for the internet, an interest that Clara had thankfully not questioned.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
