magnetic stripe
A small length of magnetic tape adhered to credit cards, badges, permits, passes and tokens. The tape is read by magnetic stripe readers incorporated into ATMs, identification readers and payment terminals. Due to the daily, heavy wear these cards receive, the digital recording on the stripe is in a very low-density format and often duplicated several times in case part of the stripe becomes damaged. See ATM machine. |
| Magnetic Stripes |
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| The uses of magnetic stripes are a testimony to their durability. Adhered to credit cards and a variety of other plastic or paper cards, the low-density tape recording is designed to withstand abrasion from daily use. |
magnetic stripe [mag¦ned·ik ′strīp]
(computer science)
A small length of magnetic tape on a card or badge, containing data that is machine-readable.
| (storage) | magnetic stripe - A black stripe, printed on the back of a credit card or similar, that stores a machine-readable copy of the information on the card. The stripe contains iron particles about 500 nanometers long that can be magnetised like magnetic tape. The data can be read by swiping the card through a card reader. |
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