Free Β· Reference Β· ~7 min read
EMV Glossary: ARQC, TVR, AIP, CVM & Friends
Chip transactions (DE55) are a wall of acronyms. This glossary explains the most common EMV concepts in one line each, with their TLV tags, so you can look them up while decoding.
Cryptograms & authentication
| Term | Tag | One-line meaning |
|---|
| ARQC | 9F26 | Authorization Request Cryptogram β dynamic cryptogram the card computes for the issuer to verify online |
| TC | 9F26 | Transaction Certificate β cryptogram generated when the transaction is approved |
| AAC | 9F26 | Application Authentication Cryptogram β generated when the transaction is declined |
| ARPC | 91 | Authorization Response Cryptogram β issuer's reply proving it's the genuine issuer |
| CID | 9F27 | Cryptogram Information Data β says whether an ARQC / TC / AAC was generated |
| IAD | 9F10 | Issuer Application Data β card's private data for the issuer |
Risk & verification
| Term | Tag | One-line meaning |
|---|
| TVR | 95 | Terminal Verification Results β 5 bytes, bit flags of what the terminal found during checks |
| AIP | 82 | Application Interchange Profile β which capabilities the card supports (SDA/DDA/CDA, CVM, etc.) |
| CVM | 9F34 | Cardholder Verification Method β PIN / signature / no-CVM used, and the outcome |
| TSI | 9B | Transaction Status Information β which functions ran this transaction |
| UN | 9F37 | Unpredictable Number β terminal-generated random value, anti-replay |
| ATC | 9F36 | Application Transaction Counter β increments per transaction, makes cryptograms unique |
Application & identifiers
| Term | Tag | One-line meaning |
|---|
| AID | 4F/9F06 | Application Identifier β identifies the selected payment application |
| PAN | 5A | Primary Account Number β the card number |
| SDA/DDA/CDA | β | Three offline data authentication methods (static/dynamic/combined) β anti-counterfeit |
| GAC | β | Generate AC β the command asking the card to produce a cryptogram |
π Want to see these tags in a real message? Paste a message with DE55 into the parser tool β it decodes each tag and bit-decodes TVR/AIP/CID/CVM. Deep dive: EMV chip & DE55.