As a general rule, data on magnetic cards conforms to the encoding format for financial transaction cards (ISO 7811). Tracks 1 and 3 read alphanumeric data at 210 bpi, while track 2 reads numeric data only at 75 bpi.

 

ISO 7810 defines the physical characteristics of the card. (3.375 In length, 2.125 In height, .030 In thick)

 

ISO Standards available from American National Standards Institute.

 

 

Note from the table below that magnetic stripe readers used for acquiring credit card data need only to read tracks 1 or 2 from the card. Note also the redundancy. Lower-density data recorded on track 2 contains only the account number and expiration date. Track 1 contains the customer's name in addition to the account number and expiration date recorded at higher density.

 

In the early years of magnetic stripe technology, data was recorded at lower density to increase read-reliability. Low density data is still recorded on track 2 for compatibility with older-technology readers and provide redundancy when reading with newer-technology readers. Readers with both track 1 and 2 are recommended for acquiring credit card data since redundancy permits the authorization process to compare account information on both tracks and also fallback to the lower density track data if the reader is unable to decode track 1 due to damaged track data on the card.

 

Track 3, originally an alternate numeric-only track, is no longer used in the banking and credit card format.

 

 

Track 1 and 2 of the driver's license mag stripe format conform to the original formatting standards used by the banking and credit card industry. While the data encoded on the tracks is different from the banking and credit card industry, the number of bits/character is the same. In order to encode the additional alpha-numeric information required on the driver's license, the specification was revised to permit alpha numeric information to be encoded on track 3.

 

Note from the table below that the information contained on the 3 tracks of the driver's license differ only slightly from the AAMVA standard to the early California DL standard. While the information contained on each track may be only slightly different, the field order, field lengths, and method of field separation and termination differs significantly. This table is only an overview of what data fields are contained on the three tracks of a magnetically coded driver's license. For detailed format specifications refer to the AAMVA specification or contact a CAL DL office.

 

 

 

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