A broad range of magnetic memories finds extensive use in today's data processing equipment. The most significant factors in evaluating a memory for a given application are reliability, cost, size, speed, and function. Ferrite core memories with capacities of 103to 106bits and with cycle times as short as 0.5 &mgr;sec are in use. Recent developments in this area, including partial switching, 2 cores/bit, and new core fabrication techniques, will be discussed.There have been extensive development efforts recently in many forms of magnetic metal film devices. Many geometries, modes of operation, fabrication techniques, substrate materials, and film compositions are being used. A comparison of some of the resulting devices will be made, and the effects of the factors listed above will be discussed. The application of metal film memory devices will be considered and a comparison drawn with ferrite devices.Techniques for achieving special purpose functions such as nondestructive readout, read‐only and associative memory using magnetic elements, will also be described and compared.