A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, and in circuit bending , as well as among players of video games , although it is applied to all types of systems including human organizations .

In electronics, a glitch is an electrical pulse of short duration that is usually the result of a fault or design error, particularly in a digital circuit . For example, many electronic components such as flip-flops are triggered by a pulse that must not be shorter than a specified minimum duration, otherwise the component may malfunction. A pulse shorter than the specified minimum is called a glitch. A related concept is the runt pulse , a pulse whose amplitude is smaller than the minimum level specified for correct operation, and a spike , a short pulse similar to glitch but often caused by ringing or crosstalk .

In video games, a glitch is a term used by players to indicate a bug or programming error of some sort. It may refer to either a helpful or harmful error, but never an intended behavior.