Magnetic tape tracking control apparatus and method, magnetic tape format, recording medium and program for controlling tracking of tracks on a magnetic tape by a rotary head are disclosed. The magnetic tape tracking control apparatus comprises a first generating element for encoding an inputted video signal to generate the video data, a second generating element for generating search video data on the basis of the video data generated by the first generating element and a recording element for recording, on the tracks, the video data generated by the first generating element, the search video data generated by second generating element and positional information associated with a recording position of the search video data.