Adhesive tapes and films vary in terms of a carrier or backing material. Here are the most common backings/carriers.

Paper: Paper tape products have a paper backing and are also referred as flat back tape.
Cloth: A cloth backing often incorporates a woven cloth or a fabric layer for reinforcement, extra strength and heat resistance properties.
Felt: Felt or non-woven tapes are often applied to substrates to prevent scratching.
Foam: Adhesive-coated foam backing tape contains an adhesive that is protected by a liner. Foam is often used for sealing, weather-stripping, and mounting.
Metal Foil: Aluminum, aluminum-reinforced and lead backings resist flames, temperature extremes, and high humidity. Metal tapes are usually designed for taping joints and seams against moisture or vapor. Aluminum foil is laminated to paper or plastic films to provide more strength. Copper foil backing is used in the manufacture of multilayer printed circuit boards (PCB).
Plastic Film/Polymer: Generally, there are two categories of plastics: thermoplastics and thermosets. Plastic products contain one or more plastic layers. They consist of a plastic film that can be clear, colored, printed or plain. They can be single-layered or multilayered, and combined with materials such as paper and/or aluminum.
PET/Polyester: Polyethylene teraphthalate (PET)/polyester products use a PET or polyester backing in the form of a film or laminate. Also known as Mylar.
Polyimide: Polyimide tape consists of a polyimide film and a heat-resistant, silicone adhesive. Polyimide films are useful substrates for the manufacture of flexible circuit materials. Polyimide film maintains excellent physical, mechanical, chemical and electrical properties over a wide range of environments. (Also known and branded as Kapton Tape)
PVC/Vinyl: Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)/vinyl products use a vinyl or PVC backing to resist wear, weathering, and abrasion.
Rubber: Rubber backing can be used to produce a conformable self-fusing rubber electrical insulating and sealing tape.
Silicone: Silicone is a superior product for gaskets, insulators, press pads, and die-cut parts. Many grades of silicone backing can be used to match varying requirements.
Acrylic Films: Acrylic films are plastic or thermoplastic resin films manufactured using polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) or polymethyl-2-methylpropanoate. Acrylic films have excellent clarity and are UV stable.
Glass/Fiberglass: Fiberglass composite material or a glass layer provides exceptional stability in harsh environments by resisting shrinking, rotting, or burning.
Filament: Filament tape, usually referred to as strapping tape, is composed of thousands of filaments (usually fiberglass) woven into yarns that are embedded into the adhesive. It is a strong and versatile material that allows the user to bundle similar or odd-shaped items together for shipping or storage.
Fluoropolymer/PTFE/PVDF: Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is an insoluble compound that exhibits a high degree of chemical resistance and a low coefficient of friction. Fluoropolymer films, layers or coatings consist of plastics such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) or polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). Fluoropolymer is often used in applications that require superior chemical resistance, good dielectric properties and water and stain repellent characteristics. It’s also used in applications where the material handled must not stick to the belt, fabric or laminate.
Films are synthetic resin adhesives that can include a carrier, but not all do.
Transfer tape, a highly versatile product, consists of a thin adhesive film with no carrier and can be transferred to most dry surfaces as a peel-away release liner. Transfer tapes often use a release liner to improve handling and dispensing of the tape.
Double-sided tape liners often incorporate differentially coated release liners that are easy to peel. These release liners are made either of paper, film or silicone.