Review of tau lifetime measurements

The measurements of the mean lifetime of the tau lepton are reviewed. The conditions for measuring the lifetime at various e/sup +/e/sup -/ colliders are compared and the analysis methods are briefly described. The new developments since the previous Workshop on Tau Lepton Physics are listed. The world average is tau /sub tau /=290.5+or-1.0 fs. The LEP experiments dominate this average and have analyzed nearly all of their data. In anticipation of the next era of precision measurements at CLEO and the b factories, the important sources of systematic errors and the treatment of systematic biases are discussed. (19 refs).