Following is a transcription of the magnetic data encoding standards as used on ATM cards, credit cards and other Magnetic strip cards. Track: Density: bits/char: total chars on track: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Track 1 210 bpi 7 bits/char 79 alphanum. chars Track 2 75 bpi 5 bits/char 40 numeric chars Track 3 210 bpi 5 bits/char 107 numeric chars 7 bit/char characters consist of a parity bit, followed by 6 data bits 5 bit/char characters consist of a parity bit, followed by 4 data bits ****************************************************************************** Track 1 as defined by the IATA: ______________________________________________________________________________ | SS | FC | PAN | FS | NAME | FS | Additional data | ES |LRC| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | Primary | | Name. |__ |*Expir. date 4| | Account | | 26 alphanumeric| |*Restriction/type 3| | Number |___ | characters max | |*Offset or PVN 5| | 19 dig. max | ------------------ | Discretionary data | --------------- ----------------------- ^ line 44 ^SS = Start Sentinel (= "%") | FS = Field Separator (= "{") no. of chars ES = End Sentinel (= "?") FC = Format Code LRC= Longitudinal Redundancy Check * = Required by Visa and Mastercard. Note: Mastercard PAN is variable upto 16 digits length, VISA 13 or 16 digits, including mod 10 check digit. ****************************************************************************** Track 2 as defined by the ABA: ______________________________________________________________________________ | SS | PAN | FS | Additional data | ES |LRC| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | Primary | |*Expiration date 4 | | Account | |*Restriction or type 3 | | Number | |*Offset or PVN 5 | | 19 dig. max | | Discretionary data | ---------------------------- -------------------------------- ^ SS = Start Sentinel (= 0xb) | FS = Field Separator (= 0xd) no. of chars. line 67 ^ES = End Sentinel (= 0xf) LRC= Longitudinal Redundancy Check * = Required by Visa and Mastercard. Note: Mastercard PAN is variable upto 16 digits length, VISA 13 or 16 digits, including mod 10 check digit. ****************************************************************************** Track 3 as defined by the TTS: (ISO 4909) ______________________________________________________________________________ | SS | FC | PAN | FS |USE AND SECURITY DATA | Additional data |ES|LRC| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | Primary | |*country code 3 or FS|*First Subsidiary |___ | Account | | currency code 3 | account number (SAN-1)| | Number |___ | currency exponent 1 |___ |___ | 19 dig. max | | Amount auth. per cycle 4|_____*Second subsidiary| --------------- | amount remaining this cycle 4| account number | | Cycle begin(validity date 4| (SAN-2) | | Cycle length 2| | | Reentry count 1| Relay Marker 1 | |*PIN control param. 6 or FS | | | Interchange control 1|*Cryptogr. check | | PAN service restriction 2| Digits 6 or FS | | SAN-1 service restriction 2| | | SAN-2 service restriction 2| Discretionary | |*Expiration date 4 or FS | Data. | | Card sequence number 1|------------------- |*Card security number 9 or FS | -------------------------------- ^ |_no. of chars. * This field is optional. If an optional field is not used, a field separator must be encoded. SS = Start Sentinel (= 0xb) FS = Field Separator (= 0xd) ES = End Sentinel (= 0xf) FC = Format Code (2 digits) LRC= Longitudinal Redundancy Check ******************************************************************************