Nobutoshi Kihara, the engineer known as “the wizard of Sony” for his ingenuity in developing products, like Japan’s first tape recorder and transistor radio, and later the Betamax videocassette recorder, that helped propel the company’s rise from the ashes of war to become a global electronics giant, died on Feb. 13. He was 84.

Howard Stringer, chairman of the Sony Corporation, announced the death in an internal memorandum. Mr. Kihara is believed to have died in Tokyo, Sandra Genelius, a Sony spokeswoman, said.

“Sony’s audio and video technologies are only in existence today because of the technical foundations laid down by Mr. Kihara,” Mr. Stringer wrote.

Mr. Kihara, whose innovations helped win more than 700 patents, led in developing products like the company’s first success, a magnetic tape recorder and the magnetic tape to go with it. Other products included the transistor radio and television, one of the world’s first videotape recorders, the Betamax, eight-millimeter video movies, the digital still camera known as Mavica and a catalog of smaller and lighter variations of these products.