Physical Characteristics of Magnetic Stripe Cards
 

Physical Dimensions
The most commonly used card size for Access Control applications is shown on the left. This size is standard in the banking industry. The card has dimensions of 3.375" width and 2.125" height, with a thickness of thirty thousandths (0.030) of an inch.

The track 1 standard was developed to hold alphanumeric data for use in transactions where a database is accessed, such as an airline reservation database. This data is stored at 210bpi. (bits per inch)

The American Banking Association (ABA) developed the standard for track 2 data which stores numeric data at 75bpi. This data usually contains account or identification number(s). This track is commonly used in the security and access control industries.

Track 3 data standard was developed by the Thrift industry and contains numeric data stored at 210bpi. This standard is often used when some of the data is intended to be updated (re-recorded) with each transaction.