NFC tag types and standards
Near Field Communication covers a small family of tag types defined by the NFC Forum, each layered on an existing ISO/IEC contactless standard. This reference lists Types 1 through 5 with their protocol basis, memory range, data rate, and typical uses, plus the three NFC operating modes that govern how a device interacts with tags and cards.
How it works
All NFC operates on the 13.56 MHz radio frequency and powers passive tags by induction — the reader’s field energises the tag, which then responds. The NFC Forum defines five tag types, each mapping to an underlying ISO/IEC standard. Types 1, 2, and 4 are built on ISO/IEC 14443 (the proximity standard, under about 4 cm), Type 3 on Japan’s FeliCa (JIS X 6319-4), and Type 5 on ISO/IEC 15693 (the vicinity standard, up to about 1 metre).
A device can act in three modes. In reader/writer mode it reads or writes a passive tag. In card emulation mode it impersonates a contactless smart card, which is how phones do Apple Pay or Google Pay. In peer-to-peer mode two active devices swap data, though this mode is now largely deprecated. Data on tags is stored as NDEF records — a compact, self-describing format for URLs, text, and contact details.
Tips and notes
- For a basic URL or contact tag, a Type 2 NTAG chip is almost always the right and cheapest choice.
- Higher tag types add memory and security (Type 4 DESFire supports encryption for access cards and e-passports) at higher cost.
- Type 5 (ISO 15693) trades speed for range, which is why it dominates library and warehouse inventory where tags are read from a slight distance.
- The few-centimetre range of proximity NFC is intentional security; do not expect to read a payment card from across a room.