Oxygen-free copper

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Oxygen-free copper, commonly abbreviated as OFC, is a manufacturing process of copper cables. The process produces more pure copper, resulting in slightly higher conductivity than cables manufactured from unprocessed copper.

A variation of the oxygen-free copper manufacturing process called linear crystal oxygen-free copper, abbreviated LC-OFC, also increases purity between crystal boundaries, resulting in longer crystallites (grains) and therefore lower resistance.

These kinds of cables are often used in high-end audio equipment and other fields where retention of analog signal is important. While manufacturers insist that the difference in resistance is significant, most professionals and audiophiles believe that there is no perceivable difference and that the claim of "oxygen-freeness" is just a sales argument to trick consumers into paying more.^[1] The difference in resistance is quite small (about 20%) and is usually dwarfed by the resistance of the connectors and other factors. Also the most commonly used grade of "oxygen-free" copper, C10200, is the lowest grade available and does not provide all the features of the better grades. ^{[citation needed]}