HiCo and LoCo Cards - What Does it Mean and What's the Difference?
A magnetic stripe card is a type of card capable of storing data by modifying the magnetism of tiny iron-based magnetic particles on a band of magnetic material on the card. The magnetic stripe, sometimes called swipe card or magstripe, is read by physical contact and swiping past a magnetic reading head。 HiCo stands for high-coercivity and LoCo stands for low-coercivity. Coercivity refers to the magnetic material's resistance to becoming demagnetized - therefore, HiCo and LoCo represent different standards of card durability and security. Coercivity is usually measured in Oersted (Oe) units to denote the magnetic stripe's strength or intensity. High-coercivity (HiCo) stripes are magnetically harder, while low-coercivity (LoCo) stripes are magnetically softer. HiCo mag stripe cards can run as high as 4000 Oe; however, a 2750 Oe is common for most HiCo cards. In contrast, LoCo cards are 300 Oe. LoCo is best suited for cards used infrequently and/or where data is routinely cha...
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