Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s; generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm, repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track. It is a combination of many forms of music such as techno,house, industrial, new age, pop, chill-out, ambient, electronic art music, classical music, and film music. It is usually more melodic than techno, and the harder styles usually have harder beats than house. The origin of the term is uncertain, with some suggesting that the term is derived from the Klaus Schulze album Trancefer (1981) or the early trance act Dance 2 Trance. Others, though, argue the name may refer to an induced emotional feeling, high, euphoria, chills, or uplifting rush listeners claim to experience. Yet others trace the name to the actual trance-like states that the earliest forms of the music attempted to generate in the 1990s before the genre's focus changed.

Trance music is broken into a large number of genres. Chronologically, the major genres are Classic trance, Acid trance, Progressive trance, and Uplifting Trance. Uplifting Trance is also known as "Anthem trance", "Epic trance", "Stadium trance", or "Euphoric trance", and has been strongly influenced by classical music both in the 1990s and at present with the development of the sub-genre "Orchestral uplifting trance" or "Uplifting trance with symphonic orchestra" by such artists as Andy Blueman, Soundlift, and Arctic Moon. Closely related to Uplifting Trance is Euro-trance, which has become a general term for a wide variety of highly commercialized European dance music. Several subgenres are crossovers with other major genres of electronic music. For instance, tech trance is a mixture of trance and techno, Vocal Trance adds vocals and a pop-like structure to the songs, and Ambient trance is a mixture of ambient and trance. Balearic beat, which is associated with the laid back vacation lifestyle of Ibiza, Spain, is often called "Ibiza trance". Similarly, Dream trance is sometimes called "Dream House", and is a subgenre of relaxing trance pioneered by Robert Miles in the mid 90s. In recent years, trance has been blended with elements of heavy metal music (mostly melodic death metal). This fusion genre is often termed "trance metal".

Chinese trance is a subgenre of trance music that originated in China in 2000. It features accelerated tempo, between 160 and 190 bpm. It derives from House, Techno, Psy and Indian Goa Trance. Another important distinction is between European trance and Goa trance which originated in Goa, India around the same time trance was evolving in Europe. Goa trance was influential in the formation of Psychedelic Trance, which features spazzy, spontaneous samples and other psychedelic elements. Trance is also very popular in Israel, with psychedelic trance producers such as Infected Mushroom, Astrix, and Yahel Sherman achieving world wide fame.