Abstract: Iron-based superconductors have many attractive properties such as high critical field, small anisotropy, and ease of fabrication, so they have great potential for future use in ultra- high field magnets, nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, controllable fusion devices and high energy particle accelerators. For these electrical applications it is very important to develop wires and tapes with a large current carrying capacity. Here we provide a background introduction and review recent achievements in the fabrication of iron-based superconducting wires and tapes. Current problems that still have to be solved are discussed, and further improvements for large-scale applications are proposed.