ISO/IEC 7811 defines the characteristics for identification cards as defined in Clause 3 of this document and the use of such cards for international interchange.

This document specifies requirements for a high coercivity magnetic stripe (including any protective overlay) on an identification card, the encoding technique and coded character sets. It takes into consideration both human and machine aspects and states minimum requirements.

Coercivity influences many of the quantities specified in this document but is not itself specified. The main characteristic of the high coercivity magnetic stripe is its improved resistance to erasure. This is achieved with minimal probability of damage to other magnetic stripes by contact while retaining read compatibility with magnetic stripes as defined in ISO/IEC 7811-2.

ISO/IEC 7811 provides criteria to which cards are to perform. No consideration is given within ISO/IEC 7811 to the amount of use, if any, experienced by the card prior to test. Failure to conform to specified criteria is negotiated between the involved parties.

ISO/IEC 10373-2 specifies the test procedures used to check cards against the parameters specified in this document.

NOTE Numeric values in the SI and/or Imperial measurement system in this document may have been rounded off and are consistent with, but not exactly equal to each other. Using either system is correct but intermixing or reconverting values can result in errors. The original design was made using the Imperial measurement system.