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The magnetic anisotropy of CoPtCr-SiO2 perpendicular recording media, including higher energy terms, was studied as a function of film composition and seed layer materials. All series of CoPtCr films with various Cr content, deposited on Ru seed layers, show maximum values of total anisotropy Ku at 25-30 at%Pt. The maximum value for CoPt(Cr=0) films reaches ∼15×106 erg/cm3. The addition of SiO2 to the CoPtCr films reduces the grain Ku, however the grain Ku maintains a large value of 8×106 erg/cm3 even when 10at%SiO2 is added to (Co90Cr10)80Pt20, for instance, which indicates the high-potential thermal stability. Theoretical calculations for media designs of 400 Gbits/in2 revealed that the ratio of the high-energy anisotropy term Ku2 to Ku1(Ku=Ku1+Ku2) is required to be 0.2-0.35 to enhance the energy barrier for the remanent state, without a notable change in switching field. The films deposited on Ru seed layers were found to show negligibly small Ku2 values, however, the values of Ku1 and Ku2 vary significantly with the seed layer material used. Ku1 decreases almost linearly as the Ku2 value increases. It is concluded that CoPtCr films have a sufficient potential in the values of Ku1 and Ku2 for high-density perpendicular media.