Interest in hot-melt extrusion techniques for pharmaceutical applications is growing rapidly with well over 100 papers published in the pharmaceutical scientific literature in the last 12 years. Hot-melt extrusion (HME) has been a widely applied technique in the plastics industry and has been demonstrated recently to be a viable method to prepare several types of dosage forms and drug delivery systems. Hot-melt extruded dosage forms are complex mixtures of active medicaments, functional excipients, and processing aids. HME also offers several advantages over traditional pharmaceutical processing techniques including the absence of solvents, few processing steps, continuous operation, and the possibility of the formation of solid dispersions and improved bioavailability. This article, Part I, reviews the pharmaceutical applications of hot-melt extrusion, including equipment, principles of operation, and process technology. The raw materials processed using this technique are also detailed and the physicochemical properties of the resultant dosage forms are described. Part II of this review will focus on various applications of HME in drug delivery such as granules, pellets, immediate and modified release tablets, transmucosal and transdermal systems, and implants.