The below info is provided to assist all in obtaining documents relating to card construction and magnetic stripe related information:
ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission)
ANSI (American National Standards Institute)
ISO/IEC 7810 and 7811 document list: as of 05/2009
Note: ISO/IEC may revise the below documents from time to time, so always check to see what the current version may be to insure complete compliance.
ISO/IEC 7810 and 7811 information may be obtained thru the following link: http://webstore.ansi.org/; or
You may also contact the following:
American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
11 West 42nd St.
New York, NY 10036
Attn.: Customer Service
Phone: 212-642-4900
Fax: 212-302-1286
The following documents and their titles may assist you on your specific area of interest: Note: Enter the ISO # you are looking for @ the ansi website and then click on the result # for a summary of what is included in the document.
ISO/IEC 7810:2003 | Physical characteristics of credit card size documents. |
ISO/IEC 7811-1:2002 | Identification cards – Recording technique – Part 1: Embossing (available in English only) |
ISO/IEC 7811-2:2001 | Identification cards – Recording technique – Part 2: Magnetic stripe – Low coercivity. |
ISO/IEC 7811-3:1995(R2002) | Identification cards – Recording technique – Part 3: Location of Embossed Characters on ID-1 cards (formerly ANSI/ISO/IEC 7811-3:1995) |
ISO/IEC 7811-4 | Identification cards – Recording technique – Part 4: Location of Tracks 1 and 2. Note: no longer available – incorporated into revised ISO/IEC 7811-2:2001 |
ISO/IEC 7811-5 | Identification cards – Recording technique – Part 5: Location of Tracks 3. Note: no longer available – incorporated into revised ISO/IEC 7811-2:2001 |
ISO/IEC 7811-6:2008 | Identification cards – Recording technique – Part 6: Magnetic stripe – High coercivity. |
ISO/IEC 7811-7:2004 | Identification cards – Recording technique – Part 7: Magnetic stripe – High coercivity, high density. |
ISO/IEC 7811-8:2008 | Identification cards – Recording technique – Part 8: Magnetic stripe – Coercivity of (650oe) |
ISO/IEC 7811-9:2008 | Identification cards – Recording technique – Part 9: Tactile identifier mark. |
ISO/IEC 8484:2007 | Information technology – Magnetic stripes on savingsbooks. |
ISO/IEC 10373-2:2006 | Identification cards – Test methods – Part 2: Cards with magnetic stripes. |
ISO/IEC 4909:2006 | Identification cards – Financial transaction cards – Magnetic stripe data content for track 3. |
ISO/IEC 7813:2006 | Financial Transaction Cards |
Below is a MAGTEK pdf document that has some info on magnetic track and card layout. MAGTEK, in JCP’s opinion, makes the highest quality encoding and reader equipment in the industry. http://www.magtek.com/
![]() | MAGTEK Card Layout |