The magnetic properties and recording performance of hard/soft stacked media consisting of a magnetically hard 9-nm-thick (Co-Pt)-SiO 2 layer underneath a thin (2-3 nm) soft granular layer were studied. Experimental results indicated that an increase in the mean value of saturation magnetization of the soft layer langMs softrang was very effective at improving the recording resolution D50 due to an increase in the slope of magnetization curve alpha. The use of a Co-SiO2 layer, which has the highest langMs softrang in the present study, resulted in the highest D50 value. It is likely that the increase in alpha was mainly caused by the demagnetization field in grains due to the difference between langM s softrang and the mean value of saturation magnetization of the hard layer, langMs hardrang. Moreover, it was successfully demonstrated that the magnetization reversal of (Co-Pt)-SiO2/Co-SiO2 stacked media changed systematically as theoretically predicted on reducing the interfacial exchange coupling by using NiFeCr-SiO2 or Pt-SiO2 interlayers. The reduction of remanence coercivity Hr was achieved by controlling the thickness and film composition of the interlayer, moreover, a high-langMs softrang enhanced the Hr reduction. The Hr reduction improved recording writability without degrading D50, the signal to medium noise ratio SNmR and thermal stability