MRZ formats

MRZ / MRTD (Machine Readable Zone / Travel Documents) format is standardized by the ICAO (International Organization for Standardization) in Document 9303. The document is divided in 7 parts:

Fortunately you don’t need to read all these documents to understand the MRZ / MRTD format our use our SDK. We have done the work for you.

There are 3 main formats: TD1, TD2, TD3 and Visas (MRVA and MRVB).

TD1

This format is defined in Machine Readable Travel Documents Part 5: Specifications for TD1 Size Machine Readable Official Travel Documents (MROTDs) document.

Here is a sample image:

TD1 sample

Here is the format:

TD1 format

TD2

This format is defined in Machine Readable Travel Documents Part 6: Specifications for TD2 Size Machine Readable Official Travel Documents (MROTDs) document.

Here is a sample image:

TD2 sample

Here is the format:

TD2 format

TD3

This format is defined in Machine Readable Travel Documents Part 4: Specifications for Machine Readable Passports (MRPs) and other TD3 Size MRTDs document.

Here is a sample image:

TD3 sample

Here is the format:

TD3 format

Visas

This format is defined in Machine Readable Travel Documents Part 7: Machine Readable Visas document and have two subtypes: MRVA and MRVB.

MRVA

Here is a sample image:

MRVA sample

Here is the format:

MRVA format

MRVB

Here is a sample image:

MRVB sample

Here is the format:

MRVB format