Magnetic Stripe Card - United States Driver's Licenses

United States Driver's Licenses

The data stored on magnetic stripes on American driver's licenses is specified by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. Not all states use a magnetic stripe on their driver's licenses. For a list of those that do, see the AAMVA list of US License Technology. The AAMVA site also contains a list of the Canadian jurisdictions that use magnetic stripes on their driver's licenses.

The following data is stored on track 1:

• Start Sentinel - one character (generally '%')
• State or Province - two characters
• City - variable length (seems to max out at 13 characters)
• Field Separator - one character (generally '^') (absent if city reaches max length)
• Last Name - variable length
• Field Separator - one character (generally '$')
• First Name - variable length
• Field Separator - one character (generally '$')
• Middle Name - variable length
• Field Separator - one character (generally '^')
• Home Address (house number and street) - variable length
• Field Separator - one character (generally '^')
• Unknown - variable length
• End Sentinel - one character (generally '?')

The following data is stored on track 2:

• ISO Issuer Identifier Number (IIN) - 6 digits
• Drivers License / Identification Number - 13 digits
• Field Separator — generally '='
• Expiration Date (YYMM) - 4 digits
• Birth date (YYYYMMDD) - 8 digits
• DL/ID# overflow- 5 digits (If no information is used then a field separator is used in this field.)
• End Sentinel - one character ('?')

The following data is stored on track 3:

• Template V#
• Security V#
• Postal Code
• Class
• Restrictions
• Endorsements
• Sex
• Height
• Weight
• Hair Color
• Eye Color
• ID#
• Reserved Space
• Error Correction
• Security

Note: Each state has a different selection of information they encode, not all states are the same. Note: Some states, such as Texas, have laws restricting drivers licenses being swiped under certain circumstances.