Error Correction Code. A method used to detect and correct transmission errors in data. When a unit of data is generated, a code that describes the bit sequence in that data is calculated and stored with the data. When that same unit of data is read from storage, the code is again calculated as the data is read, and compared with the original ECC code. If the two compare exactly, the data is free of errors. If the two do not match, the read data is corrected using the information contained in the ECC code. The algorithm used to generate the ECC code determines how many erroneous bits may be corrected. As it applies to tape, ECC information is written on tape during the recording operation to correct errors encountered during the data restore operation.