Machine-readable medium

In telecommunication, a machine-readable medium is a medium capable of storing data in a form that can be accessed by an automated sensing device.

Note: Examples of machine-readable media include (a) magnetic disks, cards, tapes, and drums, (b) punched cards and paper tapes, (c) optical disks, and (d) magnetic ink characters. Synonym automated data medium[?].

Source: from Federal Standard 1037C