Analytical expressions describing the magnetization distribution, the demagnetizing field and the read signal of a single and a double magnetization transition are derived for the digital magnetic recording process. Under several simplifying assumptions these relations are exact solutions, including demagnetizing effects, of the basic equations governing the recording process. The influence of various parameters on the resulting magnetization and read signals are discussed. It is proved that the half pulse width of the read signal is proportional to

for large values of

, where δ is the thickness, M
rthe remanent magnetization and H
cthe coercivity of the medium. Write head and read head medium separations appear only as a sum in the expressions for the read signal. Calculated half pulse widths show reasonable agreement with experimental data.