390 Most Important Acronyms for General Knowledge and All Competitive Exams
| AAPL | Apple Inc. |
| AARP | American Association of Retired Persons |
| AT&T | American Telephone & Telegraph |
| ATM | Automated Teller Machine |
| ASEAN | Association of Southeast Asian Nations |
| AC | Alternating Current |
| ANSI | American National Standards Institute |
| AVI | Audio Video Interleave |
| API | Application Programming Interface |
| AGI | Adjusted Gross Income |
| AV | Audio Visual |
| ALU | Arithmetic Logic Unit |
| AM | Amplitude Modulation |
| ADSL | Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line |
| ARPANET | Advanced Research Projects Agency Network |
| AMQP | Advanced Message Queuing Protocol |
| AWK | Aho, Weinberger, and Kernighan |
| A/D | Analog to Digital |
| ANOVA | Analysis of Variance |
| ATM | Asynchronous Transfer Mode |
| BAN | Broadband Access Network |
| BAPI | Business Application Programming Interface |
| BCP | Business Continuity Plan |
| B2B | Business-to-Business |
| B2C | Business-to-Consumer |
| BPM | Business Process Management |
| B2E | Business-to-Employee |
| B2G | Business-to-Government |
| B2S | Business-to-Supplier |
| BRM | Business Relationship Management |
| BSC | Balanced Scorecard |
| BSM | Business Service Management |
| BSS | Business Support System |
| BTM | Business Transaction Monitoring |
| BPR | Business Process Reengineering |
| BAM | Business Activity Monitoring |
| BPMN | Business Process Modeling Notation |
| BI | Business Intelligence |
| BOM | Bill of Materials |
| BOMM | Business Object Model Management |
| CD-ROM | Compact Disc Read-Only Memory |
| CPU | Central Processing Unit |
| CAD | Computer-Aided Design |
| CGI | Common Gateway Interface |
| CRM | Customer Relationship Management |
| CNC | Computerized Numerical Control |
| CSS | Cascading Style Sheets |
| CPA | Certified Public Accountant |
| CRT | Cathode Ray Tube |
| CIA | Central Intelligence Agency |
| CFO | Chief Financial Officer |
| CIO | Chief Information Officer |
| CLP | Common Language Platform |
| CMOS | Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor |
| CTA | Call-To-Action |
| CME | Continuing Medical Education |
| CVC | Credit Verification Code |
| COD | Cash On Delivery |
| CSR | Customer Service Representative |
| CD-DA | Compact Disc Digital Audio |
| DCOM | Distributed Component Object Model |
| DDR | Double Data Rate |
| DCF | Discontinuous Channel Frequency |
| DMZ | Demilitarized Zone |
| DNS | Domain Name System |
| DRM | Digital Rights Management |
| DDOS | Distributed Denial of Service |
| DPI | Dots Per Inch |
| DWORD | Double Word |
| DHCP | Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol |
| DMTF | Distributed Management Task Force |
| DVFS | Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling |
| DMA | Direct Memory Access |
| DFS | Distributed File System |
| DVI | Digital Video Interface |
| DLL | Dynamic Link Library |
| DTD | Document Type Definition |
| DEP | Data Execution Prevention |
| DMAIC | Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control |
| DLP | Data Loss Prevention |
| EAP | Employee Assistance Program |
| EAR | Export Administration Regulations |
| EBP | Evidence-Based Practice |
| ECM | Enterprise Content Management |
| EDC | Electronic Data Capture |
| EDM | Electronic Document Management |
| EDRM | Electronic Discovery Reference Model |
| EFT | Electronic Funds Transfer |
| EHR | Electronic Health Record |
| EI | Economic Intelligence |
| EIA | Environmental Impact Assessment |
| EIS | Environmental Impact Statement |
| EMS | Emergency Management System |
| EPC | Enterprise Project Collaboration |
| EPR | Electronic Performance Reports |
| ERP | Enterprise Resource Planning |
| ESS | Employee Self-Service |
| ETL | Extract, Transform, Load |
| EVM | Earned Value Management |
| EWS | Early Warning System |
| FAFSA | Free Application for Federal Student Aid |
| FAA | Federal Aviation Administration |
| FAF | Financial Accounting Foundation |
| FDA | Food and Drug Administration |
| FIFO | First In, First Out |
| FOIA | Freedom of Information Act |
| FOMC | Federal Open Market Committee |
| FQHC | Federally Qualified Health Center |
| FRB | Federal Reserve Board |
| FRG | Family Readiness Group |
| FRP | Fiber Reinforced Plastic |
| FRS | Federal Reserve System |
| FSC | Forest Stewardship Council |
| FSI | Foreign Service Institute |
| FTP | File Transfer Protocol |
| FY | Fiscal Year |
| FYI | For Your Information |
| FZD | Fuzzy Decision |
| FZN | Fuzzy Neural Network |
| GSM | Global System for Mobile Communications |
| GIS | Geographic Information System |
| GPRS | General Packet Radio Service |
| GPS | Global Positioning System |
| GUI | Graphical User Interface |
| GPG | GNU Privacy Guard |
| GDC | Game Developers Conference |
| GOP | Grand Old Party |
| G20 | Group of Twenty |
| GM | General Motors |
| GRU | Main Intelligence Directorate |
| GARP | Global Association of Risk Professionals |
| GMAT | Graduate Management Admission Test |
| GFCI | Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter |
| GLBA | Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act |
| GATT | General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade |
| GSA | General Services Administration |
| GATTACA | Genome-based Assisted Targeted Therapy and Care |
| GFCF | Gluten-Free Casein-Free |
| GDI | Graphics Device Interface |
| HTML | HyperText Markup Language |
| HD | High Definition |
| HDMI | High Definition Multimedia Interface |
| HVAC | Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning |
| HTTP | HyperText Transfer Protocol |
| HSDPA | High Speed Downlink Packet Access |
| HTTPS | HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure |
| HDTV | High Definition Television |
| HVLP | High Volume Low Pressure |
| HFC | Hybrid Fiber Coax |
| HIPAA | Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act |
| HMO | Health Maintenance Organization |
| HDD | Hard Disk Drive |
| HLA | Human Leukocyte Antigen |
| HR | Human Resources |
| IETF | Internet Engineering Task Force |
| IMHO | In My Humble Opinion |
| ICANN | Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers |
| IPC | Inter-Process Communication |
| IAB | Internet Architecture Board |
| IANA | Internet Assigned Numbers Authority |
| IA | Information Architecture |
| IP | Internet Protocol |
| IRC | Internet Relay Chat |
| ISA | Industry Standard Architecture |
| ISP | Internet Service Provider |
| IPX | Internetwork Packet Exchange |
| ISO | International Organization for Standardization |
| ILS | Integrated Library System |
| ISDN | Integrated Services Digital Network |
| ISAPI | Internet Server Application Programming Interface |
| IMS | Information Management System |
| IS | Information System |
| IMF | International Monetary Fund |
| IGMP | Internet Group Management Protocol |
| JPEG | Joint Photographic Experts Group |
| J2EE | Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition |
| JVM | Java Virtual Machine |
| JSON | JavaScript Object Notation |
| JAR | Java Archive |
| JSP | Java Server Pages |
| J2SE | Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition |
| JIT | Just-In-Time |
| JSLT | JavaScript Library Template |
| JDE | Java Development Environment |
| JRE | Java Runtime Environment |
| JAX-RS | Java API for XML-based RESTful Services |
| JAX-WS | Java API for XML-based Web Services |
| JPA | Java Persistence API |
| JAXB | Java Architecture for XML Binding |
| JMS | Java Message Service |
| JAAS | Java Authentication and Authorization Service |
| JNDI | Java Naming and Directory Interface |
| JDBC | Java Database Connectivity |
| JSF | Java Server Faces |
| KISS | Keep It Simple, Stupid |
| KFC | Kentucky Fried Chicken |
| KPI | Key Performance Indicator |
| KVM | Keyboard, Video, Mouse |
| KDE | KDE Software Compilation |
| KDE | K Desktop Environment |
| KM | Knowledge Management |
| KVM | Kernel-based Virtual Machine |
| KVM | Kernel Virtual Machine |
| LCD | Liquid Crystal Display |
| LED | Light Emitting Diode |
| LIFO | Last In First Out |
| LSI | Large Scale Integration |
| LSI | Latent Semantic Indexing |
| LTO | Linear Tape-Open |
| LAMP | Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl/PHP/Python |
| LDAP | Lightweight Directory Access Protocol |
| LLC | Limited Liability Company |
| LAN | Local Area Network |
| LOA | Letter of Authorization |
| LBS | Location-Based Services |
| LEO | Low Earth Orbit |
| LTE | Long-Term Evolution |
| LTR | Long-Term Relationship |
| LVD | Low Voltage Differential |
| LUKS | Linux Unified Key Setup |
| LVM | Logical Volume Manager |
| MIDI | Musical Instrument Digital Interface |
| MP3 | Motion Pictures Experts Group Audio Layer 3 |
| MOD | Modification |
| MOTD | Message of the Day |
| MJPEG | Motion JPEG |
| MVC | Model-View-Controller |
| MSN | Microsoft Network |
| MSM | Mobile Station Modem |
| MSI | Micro-Star International |
| MMI | Man-Machine Interface |
| MB | Megabyte |
| MAC | Media Access Control |
| MOSS | Microsoft Office SharePoint Server |
| MCL | Multi-Channel Link |
| MMORPG | Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game |
| MIMO | Multiple-Input Multiple-Output |
| MIME | Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions |
| MGF | Multi-Link Frame |
| MHEG | Multimedia and Hypermedia Information Coding Experts Group |
| MPLS | Multi-Protocol Label Switching |
| NTFS | New Technology File System |
| NFS | Network File System |
| NAC | Network Access Control |
| NAT | Network Address Translation |
| NNTP | Network News Transfer Protocol |
| NIC | Network Interface Card |
| NAP | Network Access Point |
| NAPT | Network Address and Protocol Translation |
| NDS | Novell Directory Services |
| NDP | Neighbor Discovery Protocol |
| NFS | Network File Sharing |
| NIS | Network Information Service |
| NTP | Network Time Protocol |
| NLB | Network Load Balancing |
| NDS | NetWare Directory Services |
| NGI | Next Generation Internet |
| NAP | Network Access Protection |
| NTLM | NT LAN Manager |
| NAK | Negative Acknowledgment |
| OLE | Object Linking and Embedding |
| OCR | Optical Character Recognition |
| OEM | Original Equipment Manufacturer |
| OOP | Object-Oriented Programming |
| ORB | Object Request Broker |
| OSI | Open Systems Interconnection |
| OSPF | Open Shortest Path First |
| OTG | On-The-Go |
| OTN | Optical Transport Network |
| OMA | Open Mobile Alliance |
| OFDM | Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing |
| ODMA | Open Document Management API |
| OPC | Open Platform Communications |
| OTA | Over The Air |
| OTP | One Time Password |
| OSS | Open Source Software |
| OAM | Operations, Administration, Maintenance |
| OBD | On-Board Diagnostics |
| OLSR | Optimized Link State Routing |
| PAD | Physical Address Extension |
| QC | Quality Control |
| RMA | Return Merchandise Authorization |
| PAF | Priority Access Field |
| QPSK | Quadrature Phase Shift Keying |
| ROM | Read-Only Memory |
| PCI | Peripheral Component Interconnect |
| QAM | Quadrature Amplitude Modulation |
| RSS | Rich Site Summary |
| PBC | Push-Button Control |
| QED | Quality Engineered Design |
| RTF | Rich Text Format |
| P2P | Peer-to-Peer |
| QoS | Quality of Service |
| RPC | Remote Procedure Call |
| PBX | Private Branch Exchange |
| QVGA | Quarter Video Graphics Array |
| RFI | Request For Information |
| PDA | Personal Digital Assistant |
| QWERTY | A keyboard layout |
| RISC | Reduced Instruction Set Computer |
| Portable Document Format | |
| QBE | Query By Example |
| SaaS | Software as a Service |
| SAD | Seasonal Affective Disorder |
| SAT | Scholastic Aptitude Test |
| SBU | Strategic Business Unit |
| SCM | Supply Chain Management |
| SCADA | Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition |
| SDK | Software Development Kit |
| SEO | Search Engine Optimization |
| SFTP | Secure File Transfer Protocol |
| SIM | Subscriber Identity Module |
| SLA | Service Level Agreement |
| SOA | Service-Oriented Architecture |
| SSID | Service Set Identifier |
| SSL | Secure Sockets Layer |
| SIP | Session Initiation Protocol |
| SMS | Short Message Service |
| SOP | Standard Operating Procedure |
| STP | Spanning Tree Protocol |
| SWOT | Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats |
| SYN | Synchronize |
| TCP/IP | Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol |
| TCO | Total Cost of Ownership |
| TDD | Test-Driven Development |
| TFS | Team Foundation Server |
| TLS | Transport Layer Security |
| TOGAF | The Open Group Architecture Framework |
| TSG | Technical Support Group |
| TOS | Terms of Service |
| TPS | Transaction Processing System |
| TQM | Total Quality Management |
| TRM | Technology Risk Management |
| TTFN | Ta Ta For Now |
| TWAIN | Technology Without An Interesting Name |
| TWI | Training Within Industry |
| TWiki | Team-oriented Wiki |
| TXT | Text |
| UAT | User Acceptance Testing |
| UDF | User-Defined Function |
| UDP | User Datagram Protocol |
| URL | Uniform Resource Locator |
| VLSI | Very Large Scale Integration |
| VCR | Video Cassette Recorder |
| VAR | Value Added Reseller |
| VAR | Variable Annuity Retirement |
| VNA | Vehicle Number Allocation |
| VLAN | Virtual Local Area Network |
| VPN | Virtual Private Network |
| VAR | Value at Risk |
| VDC | Voltage Direct Current |
| VFD | Variable Frequency Drive |
| VSWR | Voltage Standing Wave Ratio |
| VMM | Virtual Machine Manager |
| VDSL | Very High Bit-Rate Digital Subscriber Line |
| VCM | Voice Call Manager |
| VCU | Voltage Control Unit |
| VPS | Virtual Private Server |
| VOD | Video on Demand |
| VHDL | Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language |
| VIN | Vehicle Identification Number |
| WAP | Wireless Application Protocol |
| WDM | Wavelength Division Multiplexing |
| WHQL | Windows Hardware Quality Labs |
| WAP | Wireless Access Point |
| WPA2 | Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 |
| WPA3 | Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 |
| WAN | Wide Area Network |
| WCDMA | Wideband Code Division Multiple Access |
| WLAN | Wireless Local Area Network |
| WEP | Wired Equivalent Privacy |
| WPA | Wi-Fi Protected Access |
| WAF | Web Application Firewall |
| WPS | Wi-Fi Protected Setup |
| XP | eXtreme Programming |
| XSL | eXtensible Stylesheet Language |
| XML | eXtensible Markup Language |
| XHTML | eXtensible Hypertext Markup Language |
| Y2K | Year 2000 |
| YAGNI | You Ain’t Gonna Need It |
| YAML | YAML Ain’t Markup Language |
| YAMM | Yet Another Mail Merge |
| ZIP | Zone Improvement Plan |
| ZMP | Zero Moment Point |
| ZIF | Zero Insertion Force |
| ZFS | Zettabyte File System |
| ZPL | Zebra Programming Language |
| ZPP | Zero Power Point |
| ZSH | Z Shell |
| ZV Port | Zoomed Video Port |
Originally written on
February 18, 2009
and last modified on
April 6, 2024.