{"id":8319,"date":"2023-04-25T11:03:16","date_gmt":"2023-04-25T11:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/signdesk.com\/in\/?p=8319"},"modified":"2025-09-17T07:17:31","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T12:47:31","slug":"machine-readable-zone-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melento.ai\/en-in\/blog\/machine-readable-zone-explained","title":{"rendered":"How To Streamline KYC With Machine Readable Zone For Documents"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

With the rapid growth in technology, the need for higher & more sophisticated security & safety protocols has become a high priority. One of the prime examples of this is the Machine Readable Zone or MRZ. MRZ has enabled machines to read information on identity documents like passports and visas quickly and accurately.<\/p>\n

Creating machine readable zones in ID documents provides a reliable means for verifying the identities of individuals. The use of MRZ in identity verification and authentication processes aids institutions in detecting and probing ID fraud, potential money laundering and terrorist financing cases<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is a Machine Readable Zone?<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

MRZ stands for Machine Readable Zone. This is a section of an ID document containing encoded details about the ID holder in a standardized format. Typically, this zone contains data such as the document holder\u2019s nationality, name, date of birth, passport number, and the document\u2019s expiration date.<\/p>\n

At a basic level, the MRZ is a series of characters printed at the bottom of the page in a rectangular fashion.<\/p>\n

The passport machine readable zone uses a combination of numbers, letters, and symbols to allow machines to read the said document. A standardized format is employed to ensure machines can easily read and process the information of the ID holder.<\/p>\n

Checking MRZ number passports offers several uses, such as inspecting the document’s validity, verifying the document holder\u2019s identity, and also as a means to reduce the risk of identity theft and fraud.<\/p>\n

Development of the MRZ System – History & Objectives of MRZ\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

The machine readable zone in travel documents was first introduced in the 1980s. It was implemented to simplify and speed up the ID check process in establishments with restricted access.<\/p>\n

Before the presence of machine readable zones on IDs, border control officers had to physically examine and verify the information in each passport and other travel documents. This system was laborious and posed security risks if fraudulent IDs were not detected.<\/p>\n

A specialized agency of the UN, ICAO<\/a><\/strong> establishes international norms and suggests procedures for the MRZ technical requirements for all machine readable travel documents. The standards specified by ICAO include instructions on the creation, arrangement, and encoding of MRZs to promote document standardization and interoperability between various nations and authorities.<\/p>\n

The machine readable zone was created to encode information about the document holder in a standardized format that machines can easily process. And, over time, the use of MRZ grew in popularity. Apart from travel documents, it is now used for document verification<\/a><\/span> purposes such as KYC.<\/p>\n

Further, the MRZ in passports or other identity documents have become an effective step toward preventing unauthorized ID changes. MRZ is now an essential part of securing ID cards and documents, and is added to prevent instances of forgery and identity theft.<\/p>\n

Typical Format of a Machine Readable Zone<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

The machine readable zone is at the bottom of the biographical or personal information page and consists of two lines of symbols and characters. The elements of a typical passport MRZ are as follows:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Type of document- For ex., \u2018P\u2019 for regular passport<\/li>\n
  2. Country code of the issuing country-\u00a0 For ex., \u2018IND\u2019 for India<\/li>\n
  3. Passport holder\u2019s full name- including the surname and given name(s)<\/li>\n
  4. Passport number<\/li>\n
  5. Passport holder\u2019s nationality<\/li>\n
  6. Passport holder\u2019s date of birth<\/li>\n
  7. Check digit<\/li>\n
  8. Passport holder\u2019s gender<\/li>\n
  9. Passport expiration date<\/li>\n
  10. Other data listed by the passport issuing authority<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Some of the elements may be separated by the \u201c<\u201d character. The format and components present in the MRZ can vary depending on the country issuing the document and the type of document.<\/p>\n

    How Do Verification Systems Decode MRZ?\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

    The machine readable zone software or MRZ software in an ID document consists of machine-understandable lines. These encoded lines include the document holder\u2019s personal details, along with \u2018checksum\u2019. The checksum is a numerical value that helps in identifying document forgery.<\/p>\n

    OCR, or Optical Character Recognition, a text recognition and conversion technology, is used to read and examine the data in the machine readable zone. The MRZ code is scanned to access the encoded data and then saved electronically.<\/p>\n

    To achieve this, first, the image of the ID is scanned. After this stage, the machine-readable zone is extracted, and the embedded text is recognized and analyzed to extract the data fields.<\/p>\n

    OCR is used to calculate the checksum of the extracted data. The calculated checksums are then compared to the original checksums for data validation which allows for the verification of the document’s authenticity.<\/p>\n

    Machines scan and decode an MRZ as follows:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Scanning software is used to scan the machine readable zone on the document.<\/li>\n
    2. Optical Character Recognition, or OCR, is used to interpret the MRZ.<\/li>\n
    3. The extracted data is compared to the check digits or checksum.<\/li>\n
    4. If the check digits do not correspond to the predefined data, further investigation and verification are performed to check the document\u2019s authenticity.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n