Sound-on-disc
an early type of sound film installations
Sound-on-disc is a class of sound film processes using a phonograph or other disc to record or play back sound in sync with a motion picture. Early sound-on-disc systems used a mechanical interlock with the movie projector, while more recent systems use timecodes.
Examples of sound-on-disc processes
France
The Chronophone (Léon Gaumont) "Filmparlants" and phonoscènes 1902–1910 (experimental), 1910–1917 (industrial)
United States
Vitaphone introduced by Warner Bros. in 1926
Photokinema, short-lived system, invented by Orlando Kellum in 1921 (used by D. W. Griffith for Dream Street)
Digital Theater Systems
United Kingdom
British Phototone, short-lived British system using 12-inch discs, introduced in 1928–29 (Clue of the New Pin)
Other
Systems with the film projector linked to a phonograph or cylinder phonograph, developed by Thomas Edison (Kinetophone, Kinetophonograph), Selig Polyscope, French companies such as Gaumont (Chronomégaphone, Chronophone), and Pathé, and British systems.
Film censorship
During the 1920s and early 1930s, films in the United States were subject to censorship by state and city censor boards, which often required cuts of scenes before a film would be licensed for exhibition. While films using the sound-on-film process could accommodate a patch for a requested cut with ease, a film using sound-on-disc would require an expensive retake. If the cost of compliance with a censor board was too high, the film would not be shown in that state or city.
The public source identifies “Sound-on-disc” as an early type of sound film installations. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Sound-on-disc, early and type.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3490039. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1902, 1910, 1917 and 1926.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sound-on-disc” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.