In the beginning, binaural recording was used for music productions. For more than 40 years, applications are being intensively used in the automotive industry to optimize vehicle interior sound. Only a binaural recording system like an artificial head enables listeners using calibrated equalized headphones to perceive hearing events which are very realistic to the original sound field. Nowadays, within the scope of soundscape standardization ISO 12913, recommendations are being discussed regarding the use of binaural technology for recording environmental sounds, where in the past normally only single microphones were used. For an overall estimation of the total sound pressure level, this may be sufficient, but in a complex sound situation, like soundscapes with several different sound sources at different locations, the selectivity of the human hearing is only given properly by binaural listening. This paper will explain the technology of binaural recording and playback systems and its advantages in comparison with other sound recording systems.