Metal evaporated video tape (hereinafter referred to as ME tape or ME thin film) has been developed for the next generation VTR recording media on the scale of mass production. The feature of this tape is that the magnetic thin film of 0.15 μm is directly formed on a polyester base by an entirely new process which is not a conventional binder coating but a continuous vacuum deposition coating. We have sharply improved many properties of the magnetic layer, such as coercivity, remanent magnetism, corrosion resistance, durability, coefficient of friction, and noise level by the selection of Co–Ni alloy as the magnetic material and the adoption of oblique incidence deposition and oxygen reactive deposition as the deposition method. Magnetic recording media which possess both higher performance for short wave length recording and excellent durability in practical use are realized by ME tape. This ME tape has the possibility of extending the application of magnetic recording and to advance the theory of magnetic recording mechanisms.