PURPOSE: To provide a magnetic coating having high solid ratio while keeping the suitable viscosity for coating, useful for forming a magnetic layer for an encoder of magnetic drum, etc., and capable of forming a magnetic layer having desired thickness by single coating process.

CONSTITUTION: The magnetic coating is produced by mixing (A) magnetic powder (e.g. Co-γ Fe2O3) with (B) a resin (e.g. polyvinyl butyral resin) and (C) a volatile solvent (e.g. Cellosolve acetate). The ratio of the component C to the solid component consisting of the components A and B is set to a low level while keeping the viscosity of the coating to a prescribed level. Preferably, the viscosity of the coating is 8.5 poise and the ratio of the component C to the solid component is set to ≤1.7. A soft resin having low viscosity is preferably used as the component B to decrease the ratio of the component C to the solid component while keeping the viscosity of the magnetic coating.