This work reviews the available data on thermodynamic properties of carbon dioxide and presents a new equation of state in the form of a fundamental equation explicit in the Helmholtz free energy. The function for the residual part of the Helmholtz free energy was fitted to selected data of the following properties: (a) thermal properties of the single‐phase region (p&rgr;T) and (b) of the liquid‐vapor saturation curve (ps, &rgr;′, &rgr;″) including the Maxwell criterion, (c) speed of soundwand (d) specific isobaric heat capacitycpof the single phase region and of the saturation curve, (e) specific isochoric heat capacitycv, (f) specific enthalpyh, (g) specific internal energyu, and (h) Joule–Thomson coefficient &mgr;. By applying modern strategies for the optimization of the mathematical form of the equation of state and for the simultaneous nonlinear fit to the data of all these properties, the resulting formulation is able to represent even the most accurate data to within their experimental uncertainty. In the technically most important region up to pressures of 30 MPa and up to temperatures of 523 K, the estimated uncertainty of the equation ranges from ±0.03% to ±0.05% in the density, ±0.03% to ±1% in the speed of sound, and ±0.15% to ±1.5% in the isobaric heat capacity. Special interest has been focused on the description of the critical region and the extrapolation behavior of the formulation. Without a complex coupling to a scaled equation of state, the new formulation yields a reasonable description even of the caloric properties in the immediate vicinity of the critical point. At least for the basic properties such as pressure, fugacity, and enthalpy, the equation can be extrapolated up to the limits of the chemical stability of carbon dioxide. Independent equations for the vapor pressure and for the pressure on the sublimation and melting curve, for the saturated liquid and vapor densities, and for the isobaric ideal gas heat capacity are also included. Property tables calculated from the equation of state are given in the appendix. ©1996 American Institute of Physics and American Chemical Society.