Magnetic Stripe or Barcode?:

The advantages of the magnetic stripe technology are that it
is inexpensive, easy to read and has been around for a long time. Magnetic stripes, however, are easy to recode and do not hold much data.

2D barcodes are making waves because they are capable of storing a whole lot more data and are hard to hack. Unfortunately, 2D barcodes are not standardized like magnetic stripe technology and the equipment to read them is costly.