Any capacitor in which the dielectric layer is formed by an electrolytic method. The capacitor does not necessarily contain an electrolyte. When a metal electrode, such as an aluminium or tantalum one, is operated as the anode in an electrolytic cell a dielectric layer of the metal oxide is deposited. The capacitor is formed using either a conducting electrolyte as the second electrode or a semiconductor, such as manganese dioxide. The electrolyte used is either in liquid form or in the form of a paste, which saturates a paper or gauze. Tantalum capacitors containing a nonliquid electrolyte are usually in bead form. Electrolytic capacitors have a high capacitance per unit volume but suffer from high leakage currents.