ISO/IEC 14443 vs. MIFARE
Comparing 2 standards across 13 specifications. 12 key differences identified.
ISO/IEC 14443 is the international standard governing contactless Proximity Integrated Circuit Cards (PICC) and Proximity Coupling Devices (PCD) operating at 13.56 MHz over distances up to 10 cm. It defines two distinct physical and framing architectures—Type A and Type B—and forms the foundation of EMV contactless payment cards and ICAO biometric ePassports.
MIFARE is a proprietary contactless smart card technology developed by Mikron (now NXP Semiconductors) conforming to ISO/IEC 14443 Type A. Spanning MIFARE Classic, Ultralight, Plus, and DESFire EV1/2/3, it is widely cited by NXP and industry sources as the world's most widely deployed contactless smart card platform for transit ticketing and access control.
Specification Comparison Table
13 Parameters| Parameter / Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Frequency Bands
|
13.56 MHz | 13.56 MHz |
|
Standard Parts
|
Part 1 (Physical), Part 2 (RF/Signal), Part 3 (Initialization/Anticollision), Part 4 (T=CL Protocol) | — |
|
Nominal Operating Range
|
Up to 10 cm | — |
|
Data Transfer Rates
|
106, 212, 424, and 848 kbps | — |
|
Type A Modulation
|
100% ASK with Modified Miller Coding | — |
|
Type B Modulation
|
10% ASK with NRZ Coding | — |
|
Primary Applications
|
EMV contactless credit cards, biometric ePassports (ICAO 9303), national eID cards | — |
|
Standard Compliance
|
— | ISO/IEC 14443-A (Parts 1–4 for DESFire/Plus) |
|
Communication Rate
|
— | 106 to 848 kbps |
|
Typical Read Range
|
— | 2.5 to 10 cm |
|
Primary Variants
|
— | Classic (1K/4K), Ultralight, Plus, DESFire EV1/EV2/EV3 |
|
Security Ciphers
|
— | Crypto-1 (Classic, Broken), AES-128 (Plus/DESFire), 3DES (DESFire EV1) |
|
Common Criteria Certification
|
— | EAL5+ (DESFire EV2/EV3) |