Magnetic Co-P thin films were prepared by electroless deposition. The experiment results show that the film thickness has a significant influence on the coercivity. While the film thickness varied from 300 nm to 5 μm,the coercivity dropped sharply from 45.36 to 22.28 kA/m. As the film thickness increased further,the coercivity varied slowly. When the thickness of the film was 300 nm,the deposited film could realize the coercivity as high as 45.36 kA/m,and the remanent magnetization as high as 800 kA/m.The Co-P films were deposited on the surface of magnetic drums of encoders,whose diameter was 40 mm,and then 512 magnetic poles were recorded,meaning that the magnetizing pitch was 0.245 mm. The testing results indicate that the output signals are perfect,the output waveforms are steady and the pulses account is integral. Compared with the γ-Fe₂O₃ coating,the Co-P thin film is suitable to be the magnetic recording media for the high resolution magnetic rotary encoder.