The second ANSI/ISO data format is ALPHA (alphanumeric) and involves a 6-bit character set with 64 characters. ALPHA encoding uses the same method as BCD encoding for formatting of the framing characters. The even parity bit used requires brings up the number of bits required to encode a single character to seven.
Hexadecimal conversions of the Data Bits are given in parenthesis (xH)
The LSB ( below labeled here as b1 ) is read first in the track encoding bits.
| - | D | A | T | A | - | Parity | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| b1 | b2 | b3 | b4 | b5 | b6 | b7 | Character | Function |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | space (0H) | Special |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ! (1H) | Special |
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | " (2H) | Special |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | # (3H) | Special |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | $ (4H) | Special |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | % (5H) | Start Sentinel |
| 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | & (6H) | Special |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ' (7H) | Special |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ( (8H) | Special |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ) (9H) | Special |
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | * (AH) | Special |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | + (BH) | Special |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ' (CH) | Special |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - (DH) | Special |
| 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | . (EH) | Special |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | / (FH) | Special |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 (10H) | Data |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 (11H) | Data |
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 (12H) | Data |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 (13H) | Data |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 (14H) | Data |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 (15H) | Start Sentinel |
| 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 (16H) | Data |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 (17H) | Data |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 (18H) | Data |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 (19H) | Data |
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | : (1AH) | Special |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ; (1BH) | Special |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | < (1CH) | Special |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | = (1DH) | Special |
| 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | > (1EH) | Special |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ? (1FH) | End Sentinel |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | @ (20H) | Special |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | A (21H) | Data (alpha) |
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | B (22H) | Data (alpha) |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | C (23H) | Data (alpha) |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | D (24H) | Data (alpha) |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | E (25H) | Start Sentinel |
| 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | F (26H) | Data (alpha) |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | G (27H) | Data (alpha) |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | H (28H) | Data (alpha) |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | I (29H) | Data (alpha) |
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | J (2AH) | Data (alpha) |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | K (2BH) | Data (alpha) |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | L (2CH) | Data (alpha) |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | M (2DH) | Data (alpha) |
| 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | N (2EH) | Data (alpha) |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | O (2FH) | Data (alpha) |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | P (30H) | Data (alpha) |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Q (31H) | Data (alpha) |
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | R (32H) | Data (alpha) |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | S (33H) | Data (alpha) |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | T (34H) | Data (alpha) |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | U (35H) | Start Sentinel |
| 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | V (36H) | Data (alpha) |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | W (37H) | Data (alpha) |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | X (38H) | Data (alpha) |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Y (39H) | Data (alpha) |
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Z (3AH) | Data (alpha) |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | [ (3BH) | Special |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | \ (3CH) | Special |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ] (3DH) | Special |
| 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ^ (3EH) | Field Separator |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | _ (3FH) | Special |