E13B

E13B is a character encoding standard primarily used for magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) in the banking industry. It is a set of thirteen distinct symbols, including digits 0 through 9, and four special control characters: On-Us, Amount, Dash, and Transit. These characters are designed to be read by machines directly from checks and other financial documents.

The "E" in E13B stands for "Encoding," and "13" refers to the thirteen characters. The "B" signifies the specific font and design of these characters, which are optimized for reliable machine reading even when printed on paper with varying quality or background. The unique shape and spacing of E13B characters allow MICR readers to accurately interpret the encoded information, such as account numbers, routing numbers, and transaction amounts.

The widespread adoption of E13B has been crucial for the automation of check processing. Before MICR technology, manual data entry was required for every transaction, a slow and error-prone process. E13B enabled banks to rapidly sort and process millions of checks daily, significantly increasing efficiency and reducing operational costs. While digital payment methods have become more prevalent, E13B remains an important part of the financial infrastructure for traditional check-based transactions.