A widely used eight-channel optical digital audio interface developed by Alesis as a bespoke interface for the company's digital eight-track tape machines in the early 1990s (Alesis Digital Audio Tape). The interface transfers up to eight channels of 24-bit digital audio at base sample rates (44.1 or 48 kHz) via a single fibre-optic cable. This 'lightpipe' and its conenctors are physically identical to that used for the TOSlink optical S/PDIF stereo interface found on many digital consumer hi-fi devices. However, while the light-fibre itself can be used interchangeably for either format, the S/PDIF and ADAT interfaces are not compatible in any other way.
The ADAT interface incorporates embedded clocking, and padding zeros are introduced automatically if the word length is less than 24 bits. Although not supported by all ADAT interfaces, most modern devices automatically employ the S/MUX (Sample Multiplexing) protocol (licensed from Sonorus) which allows higher sample rates to be employed at the cost of fewer channels of audio. The S/MUX2 format operates at double sample rates (88.2 and 96 kHz) but carries only four channels, while S/MUX4 operates at quad rates (176.4 and 192 kHz) with two channels. S/MUX uses a clever technique that divides the high sample rate data across the eight nominal channels in such a way that accidental level changes or dithering applied identically to each channel in the data stream will not damage or destroy the wanted demultiplexed signal.