ISO/IEC 7811-8:2008 is one of a series of International Standards defining the characteristics of identification cards. It provides criteria to which cards shall perform and specifies the requirements for such cards used for international interchange. It takes into consideration both human and machine aspects and states minimum requirements.

ISO/IEC 7811-8:2008 specifies requirements for a 51,7 kA/m (650 Oe) magnetic stripe (including any protective overlay) on an identification card. This magnetic stripe is between ISO/IEC 7811-2 (23,9 kA/m, 300 Oe) and ISO/IEC 7811-6 (minimum 199 kA/m, 2500 Oe) in terms of coercivity and is primarily used for hotel guest room entry systems worldwide. ISO/IEC 7811-8:2007 specifies the "window" to be used to establish given values for 51,7 kA/m (650 Oe) media, the main difference being in the I_min (6,5 F_R) and I_max (8 F_R) values which define the extremities of the window. Encoding techniques, specification, error detection, and track locations are not specified in ISO/IEC 7811-8:2007.

ISO/IEC 7811-8:2008 specifies

• the conditions for conformance,
• physical characteristics for the card (warpage and surface distortions) and the magnetic stripe area (location, height and surface profile, roughness, adhesion, wear, and resistance to chemicals),
• the signal amplitude performance characteristics of the magnetic stripe.

The encoding specification, angle of recording, bit density, flux transition spacing variation, signal amplitude, data structure including track format, use of error correction techniques, and the location of encoded tracks are not specified, but are recommended to be the same as ISO/IEC 7811-2 where appropriate.

ISO/IEC 7811-8:2008, together with a standard for test methods, provides for interchange between various types of identification card processing devices and systems.