Magnetic stripe

A magnetic stripe, sometimes called a magstripe, refers to a band of magnetic material on credit cards, transit fare cards or identification cards to store information. The magnetic stripe is read by physical contact and swiping past a reading head.

This is in contrast to the newer generation of smart cards which contain an actual computer chip with metal contacts, or contactless cards which use a magnetic field or radio frequency (RFID) for close-proximity reading.

See also

• Octopus card
• Magnetic stripe card