Unusual types of gramophone records

The overwhelming majority of records manufactured have been of certain sizes, playback speeds, and appearance. However, since the commercial adoption of the gramophone record, a wide variety of records have also been produced that do not fall into these categories, and they have served a variety of purposes.

Unusual sizes

The most common diameter sizes for gramophone records are 12-inch, 10-inch, and 7-inch. Early American shellac records were all 7-inch until 1901, when 10-inch records were introduced. 12-inch records joined them in 1903. By 1910, other sizes were retired and nearly all discs were either 10-inch or 12-inch, although both sizes were normally a bit smaller than their official diameter. In Europe, early 10-inch and 12-inch shellac records were produced in the first three decades of the twentieth century. 7-inch children's records were sold before World War II, but nearly all were made of fragile shellac, not an ideal material for use by children. In the late 1940s, small plastic records, including some small picture discs, replaced them. Ten-inch children's records were made as well, but the 7-inch size was more compatible with small hands. The 7-inch size was also used for flexi discs which were popular in Japan where they were known as sound-sheets and were often in traditional round format. In other areas, flexi discs were usually square and often included in a magazine.
Numerous unusual diameters have been produced since the early 1900s ranging from. Oddly shaped discs were also produced.

Size	Uses
	Peabrain zine released a 2" compilation – the ADHD EP – which includes 6 bands from Southampton and Portsmouth who recorded a 10-second song each. It was pressed on green vinyl and limited to 300 copies, each wrapped in a 24-page cover. Hardcore punk band 2Minute Minor released a 20-second song called Soda Tax on a single-sided 2" lathe cut record, limited to 50 copies. This song is in response to the Cook County Sweetened Beverage Tax where some stores were taxing the drink LaCroix by accident.
	Also known as "8ban," these were developed in Japan by record pressing company Toyokasei and released in "blind-bag" format by toy company Bandai in 2004. They experienced a resurgence in the United States because of the interest of Jack White who released White Stripes singles in this format. Disks in this format continue to be manufactured, particularly in association with Record Store Day during which 3" singles are made available exclusively through participating stores.
	120 mm records. Techno artist Jeff Mills released the single for "The Occurrence" on a disc that is a gramophone record on one side, and a compact disc on the other. Although dubbed a 5-inch record, to be usable in most compact disc players, the record can be no bigger than 120 mm or about 4.7".
	Between 1888 and ca. 1892-1894, Emile Berliner recorded a few 5" records under the toy company Krammer & Reinhardt. In 1980, the British band Squeeze released a 5-inch 33 RPM vinyl recording of "If I Didn't Love You", backed with "Another Nail In My Heart". Due to space restrictions of the grooves, both songs were mixed as monaural. Underground hardcore punk bands in the 1990s started releasing EPs on all sizes of vinyl including 5 inches in size. Children's records were manufactured in this size from the early 1900s all the way up to the late 1950s Little Wonder Records was perhaps the most successful, curious and now most commonly found small-format disc, produced as a discount alternative between 1914 and 1923. Its performers were uncredited, but paralleled duplication of longer recordings on more common 10" discs, and appearing to exclusively employ Columbia recording artists. They were not children's records. Little Wonder in some cases recorded unusual artists, such as ragtime vocalist Gene Greene and African-American late/ragtime/early-jazz clarinetist Wilbur Sweatman.
	Children's records – 6-inch Little Golden Records made of bright yellow plastic were a common sight in children's playrooms in the United States from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. The 78 RPM speed was used for some children's records of all sizes well into the 1960s, as nearly all record players still included it and it allowed an old disused 78-only player to be put to work as a toy, expendable if it got damaged by rough handling. 6-inch flexi discs – Popular in Japan where they were known as sound-sheets, these releases were often in traditional round format. In other areas, flexi discs were usually square and often included in a magazine. For example, the American magazine National Geographic's January 1979 issue included a 6-inch flexi disc of whale sounds called "Songs of the Humpback Whale." With a production order of 10.5 million, it became the largest single press run of any record at the time.
7 inch	Between 1892 and 1900, the Berliner Gramophone Company released 7" records, to be played with a recently upgraded Gram-O-Phone reproducing machine. The descendants of its legacy continued issuing 7" plates for a few years.
	Early American shellac records – Prior to 1910, Victor introduced 8-inch records to replace their inexpensive 7-inch product, but they were soon discontinued. A similar scenario occurred in Europe for Emerson and Melodiya discs. The F.W. Woolworth Company test marketed 8-inch records on their own Electradisk label, made by RCA Victor, in New York City in 1932. Priced at 10 cents, they were replaced by a 10-inch Electradisk later that year, priced at 20 cents. 8-inch EPs – Mostly seen as Japanese pressed records in the 1980s and 1990s, and after 1992 in the US. 8-inch flexi discs – Popular in Japan where they were known as sound-sheets, these releases were often in traditional round format. In other areas, flexi discs were usually square and often included in a magazine. The Red Sea by Isis Kind Glaze by Caboladies
	European shellac records – In the first three decades of the twentieth century European companies including Pathé, Odeon, and Fonotipia made recordings in a variety of sizes, including 21 cm.
	Early American shellac records – Prior to 1910, nine-inch brown shellac records were issued under the Zon-O-Phone label. Emerson Records made nine inch black shellac records in the second half of the 1910s, these also appeared on client labels such as Medallion. 9-inch flexi discs – Popular in Japan where they were known as sound-sheets, these releases were often in traditional round format. In other areas, flexi discs were usually square and often included in a magazine. Popular industrial music group Nine Inch Nails released a limited edition series of 9-inch discs to aid in promoting the single "March of the Pigs" from their full length 1994 album The Downward Spiral. The record featured two songs on the first side, and an etching of the album's promotional logo on the second side. The Seeburg 1000 background music system used 9-inch, 16-rpm records with an unusual 2-inch center hole. Each record had a capacity of about 40 minutes per side.
	European shellac records – In the first three decades of the twentieth century European companies including Pathé, Odeon, and Fonotipia made recordings in a variety of sizes, including 25 cm.
	European shellac records – In the first three decades of the twentieth century European companies including Pathé, Odeon, and Fonotipia made recordings in a variety of sizes, including 27 cm. Edison Diamond Discs were of around 10 inch on average
	UK goth band Alien Sex Fiend were the first band to release an 11-inch record in October 1984. Some 78 rpm stamper/test plates were pressed using bigger shellac cakes than the final product, being the most notable example Bix Beiderbecke's "Thou Swell" take A, where in a small fragment of the outer rim can be found the only recorded instance of Bix's voice.
	European shellac records – In the first three decades of the twentieth century European companies including Pathé, Odeon, and Fonotipia made recordings in a variety of sizes, including 29 cm.
	Underground hardcore punk bands in the 1990s started releasing EPs on all sizes of vinyl including 13 inches in size.
	European shellac records – In the first three decades of the twentieth century European companies including Pathé, Odeon, and Fonotipia made recordings in a variety of sizes, including 35 cm.
	Early American shellac records – Between 1903 and 1910, American companies made recordings of 14-inch records that played at the unusual speed of 60 rpm. The 14-inch size was soon abandoned.
	Early Pathé "Cinéma" mood music was recorded in 16 inch shellac records. Phonoscène - 16-inch discs were used, but also 12-inch and 10-inch discs, as part of an early sound-film system made by Léon Gaumont. The discs were synchronised to a motion picture film, and were played on a Chronophone. Vitaphone "talking pictures" – 16-inch discs playing at 33 rpm provided the sound in the Vitaphone "talking picture" system developed in the mid-1920s, the first use of the 33 rpm speed. Early radio broadcasting – In radio broadcasting, 16-inch 33 rpm discs—shellac in the early 1930s, but vinyl in later years—were used to distribute "electrical transcriptions" of prerecorded programming. Radio stations also made their own 16-inch lacquer disc recordings in-house to delay the broadcast of live network feeds or to prerecord some of their own local programming. These "standard groove" discs used roughly the same large groove dimensions and spacing found on 78 RPM records and typically played for about 15 minutes per side, with very good fidelity—when heard over the air, indistinguishable from live to a casual, but not to a critical listener. Old 16-inch turntables are sometimes still found in radio broadcast studios, but it is now very unlikely that any disc larger than 12-inch will ever be played on them. Early classical recordings – Some early classical LPs were dubbed from recordings which had been mastered on 16-inch lacquer discs in anticipation of eventual release in a smaller "microgroove" format.
	European shellac records – In the first three decades of the twentieth century European companies including Pathé, Odeon, and Fonotipia made recordings in a variety of sizes, including 50 cm.