What Does Telephony Application Programming Interface (TAPI) Mean?

Telephony Application Programming Interface (TAPI) is a set of standard application programming interfaces developed by Microsoft and Intel and implemented in Microsoft Windows for connecting a computer to telephone services. TAPI allows Microsoft Windows to auto detect and set up communication hardware installed on a personal computer.

Techopedia Explains Telephony Application Programming Interface (TAPI)

The Telephony Application Programming Interface receives requests from different applications and transmits them to appropriate telephony devices like telephones, modems and private branch exchanges. On different Windows versions, different versions of TAPI are available. From a computer applications perspective, TAPI can control different telephony functions that exist between the computer and the device, such as voice calls, data or fax. Basic functionalities such as dialing, answering and call holding along with supplementary functions such as conference and call park as well as other PBX functions are also supported.