ISO/IEC 14443 vs. NFC Forum Tag Types
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.
NFC Forum Tag Types (Types 1 through 5) are standardized memory and communication specifications established by the NFC Forum, operating at 13.56 MHz. They define how data is formatted in NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF) across underlying ISO/IEC 14443 Type A/B, FeliCa, and ISO/IEC 15693 radio architectures.
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 | — |
|
Data Format Standard
|
— | NDEF (NFC Data Exchange Format) |
|
Type 1 Baseline
|
— | Innovision Topaz (ISO 14443-A, 106 kbps, 96B–2KB) |
|
Type 2 Baseline
|
— | NXP NTAG / MIFARE Ultralight (ISO 14443-A, 106 kbps, 48B–2KB) |
|
Type 3 Baseline
|
— | Sony FeliCa Lite (JIS X 6319-4, 212/424 kbps, up to 1MB) |
|
Type 4 Baseline
|
— | ISO/IEC 14443 Type A & B T=CL (106–848 kbps, up to 32KB) |
|
Type 5 Baseline
|
— | ISO/IEC 15693 Vicinity (26.48 kbps, up to 64KB) |