A longitudinal magnetic recording medium with a good overwrite property and a small medium noise is identified by a CRP value, which is defined byCRP=[H.sub.c (R).times.H.sub.c (P)]/[H.sub.c (C)].sup.2where H.sub.c (C) is a coercive force in the recording direction, H.sub.c (R) is a coercive force in the medium plane in a direction perpendicular to the recording direction, and H.sub.c (P) is a coercive force in the direction of medium thickness. The magnetic recording medium can be a disk with a magnetic recording layer formed by physical vapor deposition or spin coating.