EMV Tag Dictionary Explorer
Filterable EMV tag directory — every tag you encounter in SELECT, GET PROCESSING OPTIONS, READ RECORD, GENERATE AC, and the terminal/card capability fields. Type a hex tag or a substring of the name.
How to use this tool
What it does
Looks up EMV BER-TLV tags by hex or description across the EMV Books and contactless kernels.
When to use it
Use it while decoding a transaction trace to name the data elements a terminal and card exchange.
Worked example
Search 9F26 to identify the Application Cryptogram, or 82 for the Application Interchange Profile.
Filter
Tags
About EMV tags
EMV tags are BER-TLV encoded. The leading byte indicates the tag class (universal / application / context-specific / private) and form (primitive / constructed). Many EMV tags are 2-byte (e.g. 9F26 for the application cryptogram). This directory covers the common contact and contactless flows.
Spec
EMV Books 3 and 4; EMV Contactless C-2 / C-3.
Companion
Reading
Future cornerstone: EMV transaction flow from first principles.
Frequently asked questions
What is an EMV tag?
A BER-TLV identifier for a data object defined across EMV Books 3 and 4 and the contactless specifications — for example 9F02 is the authorised amount and 5A the application PAN.
Why are some tags two bytes?
Because the first byte has its low five bits all set, which signals that the tag continues. That is why the 9Fxx family exists once the single-byte space was exhausted.
What is a DOL?
A Data Object List — a template such as PDOL or CDOL1 in which the card lists the tags it wants, with lengths but no values. The terminal concatenates the values in that exact order, with no tags and no lengths.
Which tags should never be logged?
Anything carrying cardholder data or cryptographic material — track equivalents, the PAN in full, and any key-related object. Most acceptance failures during certification are logging findings rather than protocol errors.
Does anything I paste leave my browser?
Nothing. The tool is entirely client-side: the page ships a static script, does no network calls, and never transmits what you paste. You can confirm it by opening the network tab, or by loading the page and then going offline.