What is a fax, and is it still relevant in 2025?

A detailed look at an “ancient” faxing technology and its importance in the era of artificial intelligence.

What is a fax?

A fax is a system for transmitting and reproducing documents over telephone lines.

Traditionally, the sender sends documents using a ***fax machine*** connected to a telephone line. The sender places the documents into the machine, which scans them and converts the images into electronic signals. These signals are then sent over the phone line to the recipient’s fax machine.

The recipient’s fax machine receives the signals and prints a copy of the original document.

The first fax machine was invented before the phone

Despite relying on telephone lines today, the first fax machine predates the telephone. In 1843, Scottish inventor ***Alexander Bain patented the first fax machine, an “electric printing telegraph***” that could transmit images over wires. That was over a decade before Antonio Meucci constructed its first telephone-like device in 1856.

Alexander Bain was a Scottish inventor who patented the first fax machine.

Fax became invaluable to most businesses in the 80s and 90s when it replaced slower and more expensive document delivery methods such as mail and courier services.

While the need for faxing documents decreased with the introduction of the internet, almost two centuries after the first use of fax, it is still a relevant technology many people use daily.

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

Why do people still use fax today?

Despite all the technological advances since the introduction of the fax, including artificial intelligence, there are still a handful of reasons why people use fax today.

The two most common reasons are security and authenticity. Sending and receiving physical documents is less vulnerable to hacking and data breaches than more modern methods, such as email or internet messaging. Having a physical document also provides a verifiable record.

Another reason to continue using fax is legal compliance. In the legal and medical fields, many documents require a hard copy, often with original signatures. Faxing provides an efficient method for transmitting these documents.

Therefore, it is unsurprising that many institutions, particularly government agencies, still use faxes to achieve the required level of security, authenticity, and legal compliance.

How can one send and receive faxes today?

While physical fax machines are still used today, they are less common.

How do businesses do it?

Businesses and large organizations often use specialized software solutions installed on their premises and connected to their phone lines. These solutions allow users to transmit digital documents, such as PDFs, and automatically print the received documents.

How can I do it?

However, regular people like you and me typically don’t have access to business-grade faxing solutions. Therefore, a new branch of online services that allows us to send and receive faxes has developed in recent years. These services are called ***Internet fax or online fax***.

Most online fax services allow you to upload and transmit your documents to a fax recipient using your internet browser without any physical devices or specialized software. These services, such as ***WiseFax, can be easy to use and reliable or more complex for demanding fax users like [eFax](https://www.efax.com/). Some even allow you to send faxes directly from your [email](https://www.wikihow.com/Send-Faxes-from-Gmail)***.

Some online fax services, including WiseFax and eFax, also allow you to receive faxes. This typically involves subscribing to an online fax number. Once a fax is sent to your assigned number, the service will notify you via email. The email will contain a link allowing you to download the received fax.

Final thoughts

While modern technologies evolve rapidly, some of the older ones persist. Just like ***video never really killed the radio star***, modern communication channels still haven’t filled all the niches in telecommunications. There’s still plenty of room for older technologies, even those from the 19th century.