The sopranino recorder is the second smallest instrument in the modern recorder family. Before the 17th century, it was the smallest recorder used.

This instrument has F5 as its lowest note and is 20 centimeters long. It is usually made from soft European or tropical hardwoods, though it can also be made of plastic.

Historically, there were many sizes of recorder in this range, and they had different names in different periods and languages. In 1619, Michael Praetorius described a recorder size that was a whole tone higher than the sopranino, with G5 as its lowest note. He called it exilent (highest) in Latin and kleine Flöte (small flute), klein Flötlein (small little flute), or gar klein (really small) in German. Praetorius said this recorder was the smallest of eight sizes in a complete set of recorders called an Accort oder Stimmwerk (set of all voices). It sounded a fifteenth (two octaves) higher than a cornett. A full set included 21 instruments, such as two exilents, and two each of the next two larger sizes: Discantflöten in D5 and C5. However, Praetorius suggested using only the five largest recorders in ensembles, as he said the smaller ones "scream too loudly."

The sopranino in G is likely the instrument Claudio Monteverdi referred to in L'Orfeo (1607), calling it flautino alla vigesima seconda (little flute at the third octave).

In 18th-century England, recorders smaller than the treble in F (called simply "flute") were named based on their interval above it. They were often written as transposing instruments. The descant (or soprano) in C was called a "fifth flute," the next size (a whole tone higher) was called a "sixth flute" (in D), and the sopranino was called an "octave flute."