Magnetic Ink Character Recognition

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What Does Magnetic Ink Character Recognition Mean?

Magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) is a character-distinguishing technology that makes use of special magnetized ink. It is largely used in banks and other organizations where security is a high priority. Important documents such as checks and vouchers are printed using magnetic ink. A laser printer with MICR toner can print magnetic ink.

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Techopedia Explains Magnetic Ink Character Recognition

The information found at the bottom of the checks containing the check number, sort number and account number is usually printed in magnetic ink. When a document (such as bank checks and drafts) containing this magnetic ink is to be processed, it is passed through a machine which magnetizes the ink, and then special character information is extracted and translated in the form of characters. MICR provides a protected and fast technique of scanning and processing information. The use of MICR can increase security and protection as well as reduce the risk of loss due to identity theft crimes.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.