Total Annihilation (abbreviated TA) is a real-time strategy video game created by Cavedog Entertainment, a sub-division of Humongous Entertainment, and released on September 30, 1997 by GT Interactive for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. It was the first RTS game to feature 3D units and terrain. Two expansion packs were released, The Core Contingency on April 30, 1998 and Battle Tactics on June 30, 1998. After the closure of the Cavedog Entertainment Studios in 1999, the intellectual property fell to Infogames (now Atari).

Total Annihilation is no longer officially supported, due to the closure of Cavedog. However, the last remaining site, tauniverse hosts unofficial mods. The Cavedog team ended, but ex-Cavedog and Lead Designer Chris Taylor, went on with Gas Powered Games to create Supreme Commander, popularly considered the "spiritual successor" of Total Annihilation, while other members of the team, including the game engine's developer, Jon Mavor, later went on to develop Planetary Annihilation, another game in the same vein as TA. The creators of XTA, a mod for Total Annihilation, independently developed the open source 3D graphics Spring game engine. Also, the Total Annihilation 3D (TA3D) project was begun in the summer of 2006. Total Annihilation is currently played online via The WarZone, Game Ranger, and Phoenix Worx gaming lobbies, with The WarZone being the most active.

Total Annihilation is set in the far future in the midst of a galactic war, with battles taking place on the surface of planets and moons. The efforts of the player are centered around constructing a defensive base and an offensive force, and conquering opponents. The player is also concerned with gathering resources, reconnaissance and stealth, and evaluation of units and terrain. Battles take place against AI in a story-driven campaign, with the option of playing against other players in a skirmish mode.

Normally, the player begins with the unique Commander unit, a mech with the ability to create structures to form a base and, by extension, a military force comprising a range of mobile units. The Commander, in addition to being a powerful combat unit, is vital to the player because of its ability to quickly construct units. This makes the loss of a Commander a critical event in any game. Construction is governed by the possession of the game's two unlimited resources, Metal and Energy, and can be undertaken by factories or mobile construction units. Every unit belongs to a level of technology (tech level); the higher the level, the more advanced the unit and the more resources and thus time required to construct it. A feature of the game is the ability to easily "queue" the many commands for a unit or group of units, with types of commands including patrolling a route, constructing a defensive group of structures and attacking enemy units. Once given its commands, the unit will go about them automatically thus minimizing the need for the player's attention to small, repetitive tasks. The victory conditions of a multiplayer game generally involve the elimination of all enemy units, but the aim of single player campaign missions can be more specialized.