Encoding & Access
HiCo and LoCo
High-coercivity and low-coercivity magnetic stripes.
HiCo stripes resist accidental erasure and suit durable, frequently used cards such as POS logins and gift cards; LoCo is cheaper, suits short-term cards, and is what hotel room keys almost always use.
More on this in what facility codes and card formats mean.
HiCo stripes are usually black, resist accidental erasure from magnets and phones, and suit permanent cards; LoCo stripes are usually brown, cheaper, and fine for short-term cards. Your printer's encoder has to be set to the matching type.
Where this leads
If you are working this out for a live card program, start with HiCo and LoCo stripe cards.
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