Magnetic stripe ID cards also known as magstripe cards are PVC cards containing a band of magnetic material embedded in the resin on the back of the card. Magnetic stripe cards store updatable information on a magstripe, which is read when the card is swiped through a card reader.

There are two 2 types of magnetic stripe ID cards: high coercivity magstripe ID cards (HiCo) and low coercivity magstripe ID cards (LoCo). Usually low coercivity magnetic stripes are brown, while high coercivity stripes are almost black. HiCo cards are more reliable than LoCo cards, as their magnetic layer is denser and much less susceptible to stray field erasure from magnets, making them a better solution for those cards which are frequently used and/or require a longer life. Low coercivity stripes are easily damaged by even brief contact with magnets and are used for low value or low usage applications. Virtually all bank cards and government ID cards today are encoded on high coercivity striped cards. HiCo magstripe ID cards can hold 79 alpha/numeric characters on Track1, 40 numeric characters only on Track2 and 107 numeric characters only on Track3.

IDSuperShop supports magnetic stripe ID cards as a popular low cost solution for access control systems and are often used for credit and identification cards as well as transportation passes, ATM cards, bank cards, gift cards, restaurant loyalty cards, driver’s licenses, telephone calling cards, membership cards, and electronic benefit transfer cards such as food stamps.


IDSuperShop offers many ID card printing solutions featuring magnetic stripe ID card encoding capabilities including:

  • HID FARGO DTC1500 Produce brilliant photo and sophisticated access control identification cards.
  • HID FARGO DTC4500e Capable of making simple loyalty cards as well as sophisticated access cards with embedded electronics.
  • Magicard 300 Series Single or dual-sided card printing with ISO magnetic encoding.
  • Magicard 600 Series secure ID card printer with powerful capabilities. & Custom HoloKote.
  • Evolis Zenius For entry level applications that require single-sided printing of id badges with magnetic encoding.
  • Evolis Primacy For high efficiency applications that require single or dual-sided printing of id badges with magnetic encoding.
  • Nisca PR5350 For high speed, low cost dual-sided printing with magnetic encoding.