ISO 8583 - Data Elements

Data Elements

Data elements are the individual fields carrying the transaction information. There are up to 128 data elements specified in the original ISO 8583:1987 standard, and up to 192 data elements in later releases. The 1993 revision added new definitions, deleted some, while leaving the message format itself unchanged.

While each data element has a specified meaning and format, the standard also includes some general purpose data elements and system- or country-specific data elements which vary enormously in use and form from implementation to implementation.

Each data element is described in a standard format which defines the permitted content of the field (numeric, binary, etc.) and the field length (variable or fixed), according to the following table:

Abbreviation Meaning
a Alpha, including blanks
n Numeric values only
s Special characters only
an Alphanumeric
as Alpha & special characters only
ns Numeric and special characters only
ans Alphabetic, numeric and special characters.
b Binary data
z Tracks 2 and 3 code set as defined in ISO/IEC 7813 and ISO/IEC 4909 respectively
. or .. or ... variable field length indicator, each . indicating a digit.
x or xx or xxx fixed length of field or maximum length in the case of variable length fields.

Additionally, each field may be either fixed or variable length. If variable, the length of the field will be preceded by a length indicator.

Type Meaning
Fixed no field length used
LLVAR or (..xx) Where LL < 100, means two leading digits LL specify the field length of field VAR
LLLVAR or (...xxx) Where LLL < 1000, means three leading digits LLL specify the field length of field VAR
LL and LLL are hex or ASCII. A VAR field can be compressed or ASCII depending of the data element type. LL can be 1 or 2 bytes. For example, if compressed as one hex byte, '27x means there are 27 VAR bytes to follow. If ASCII, the two bytes '32x, '37x mean there are 27 bytes to follow. 3 digit field length LLL uses 2 bytes with a leading '0' nibble if compressed, or 3 bytes if ASCII. The format of a VAR data element depends on the data element type. If numeric it will be compressed, e.g. 87456 will be represented by 3 hex bytes '087456x. If ASCII then one byte for each digit or character is used, e.g. '38x, '37x, '34x, '35x, '36x.
ISO-defined data elements
Data element Type Usage
1 b 64 Bit map (b 128 if secondary is present and b 192 if tertiary is present)
2 n ..19 Primary account number (PAN)
3 n 6 Processing code
4 n 12 Amount, transaction
5 n 12 Amount, settlement
6 n 12 Amount, cardholder billing
7 n 10 Transmission date & time
8 n 8 Amount, cardholder billing fee
9 n 8 Conversion rate, settlement
10 n 8 Conversion rate, cardholder billing
11 n 6 Systems trace audit number
12 n 6 Time, local transaction (hhmmss)
13 n 4 Date, local transaction (MMDD)
14 n 4 Date, expiration
15 n 4 Date, settlement
16 n 4 Date, conversion
17 n 4 Date, capture
18 n 4 Merchant type
19 n 3 Acquiring institution country code
20 n 3 PAN extended, country code
21 n 3 Forwarding institution. country code
22 n 12 Point of service entry mode
23 n 3 Application PAN number
24 n 3 Function code (ISO 8583:1993)/Network International identifier (NII)
25 n 2 Point of service condition code
26 n 2 Point of service capture code
27 n 1 Authorizing identification response length
28 n 8 Amount, transaction fee
29 n 8 Amount, settlement fee
30 n 8 Amount, transaction processing fee
31 n 8 Amount, settlement processing fee
32 n ..11 Acquiring institution identification code
33 n ..11 Forwarding institution identification code
34 n ..28 Primary account number, extended
35 z ..37 Track 2 data
36 n ...104 Track 3 data
37 an 12 Retrieval reference number
38 an 6 Authorization identification response
39 an 2 Response code
40 an 3 Service restriction code
41 ans 16 Card acceptor terminal identification
42 ans 15 Card acceptor identification code
43 ans 40 Card acceptor name/location (1-23 address 24-36 city 37-38 state 39-40 country)
44 an ..25 Additional response data
45 an ..76 Track 1 data
46 an ...999 Additional data - ISO
47 an ...999 Additional data - national
48 an ...999 Additional data - private
49 an 3 Currency code, transaction
50 an 3 Currency code, settlement
51 an 3 Currency code, cardholder billing
52 b 64 Personal identification number data
53 n 18 Security related control information
54 an ...120 Additional amounts
55 ans ...999 Reserved ISO
56 ans ...999 Reserved ISO
57 ans ...999 Reserved national
58 ans ...999 Reserved national
59 ans ...999 Reserved for national use
60 an .7 Advice/reason code (private reserved)
61 ans ...999 Reserved private
62 ans ...999 Reserved private
63 ans ...999 Reserved private
64 b 16 Message authentication code (MAC)
65 b 64 *Bit indicator of tertiary bitmap only*, tertiary bitmap data follows secondary in message stream.
66 n 1 Settlement code
67 n 2 Extended payment code
68 n 3 Receiving institution country code
69 n 3 Settlement institution country code
70 n 3 Network management information code
71 n 4 Message number
72 ans ...999 Data record (ISO 8583:1993)/n 4 Message number, last(?)
73 n 6 Date, action
74 n 10 Credits, number
75 n 10 Credits, reversal number
76 n 10 Debits, number
77 n 10 Debits, reversal number
78 n 10 Transfer number
79 n 10 Transfer, reversal number
80 n 10 Inquiries number
81 n 10 Authorizations, number
82 n 12 Credits, processing fee amount
83 n 12 Credits, transaction fee amount
84 n 12 Debits, processing fee amount
85 n 12 Debits, transaction fee amount
86 n 15 Credits, amount
87 n 15 Credits, reversal amount
88 n 15 Debits, amount
89 n 15 Debits, reversal amount
90 n 42 Original data elements
91 an 1 File update code
92 n 2 File security code
93 n 5 Response indicator
94 an 7 Service indicator
95 an 42 Replacement amounts
96 an 8 Message security code
97 n 16 Amount, net settlement
98 ans 25 Payee
99 n ..11 Settlement institution identification code
100 n ..11 Receiving institution identification code
101 ans 17 File name
102 ans ..28 Account identification 1
103 ans ..28 Account identification 2
104 ans ...100 Transaction description
105 ans ...999 Reserved for ISO use
106 ans ...999 Reserved for ISO use
107 ans ...999 Reserved for ISO use
108 ans ...999 Reserved for ISO use
109 ans ...999 Reserved for ISO use
110 ans ...999 Reserved for ISO use
111 ans ...999 Reserved for ISO use
112 ans ...999 Reserved for national use
113 n ..11 Authorizing agent institution id code
114 ans ...999 Reserved for national use
115 ans ...999 Reserved for national use
116 ans ...999 Reserved for national use
117 ans ...999 Reserved for national use
118 ans ...999 Reserved for national use
119 ans ...999 Reserved for national use
120 ans ...999 Reserved for private use
121 ans ...999 Reserved for private use
122 ans ...999 Reserved for private use
123 ans ...999 Reserved for private use
124 ans ...255 Info text
125 ans ..50 Network management information
126 ans ...999 Issuer trace id
127 ans ...999 Reserved for private use
128 b 16 Message authentication code

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