The Telephony Application Programming Interface (TAPI) is a Microsoft Windows API, which provides computer telephony integration and enables PCs running Microsoft Windows to use telephone services. Different versions of TAPI are available on different versions of Windows.

The purpose of the TAPI specification is to provide control of telephony resources to applications. This is used primarily to control either Modems or, more recently, to control business telephone system (PBX) handsets. When controlling a PBX handset, the driver is provided by the manufacturer of the telephone system. Some manufacturers provide drivers that allow the control of multiple handsets. This is traditionally called "third-party control". Other manufacturers provide drivers that allow the control of a single handset. This is called "first-party control". Third-party drivers are designed to allow applications to see and/or control multiple extensions at the same time. Some telephone systems only permit one third-party connection at a time. First-party drivers are designed to allow applications to monitor and/or control one extension at a time. Telephone systems naturally permit many of these connections simultaneously. Modem connections are by nature first-party.