A magneto-optic recording medium has a stacked structure composed of a
memory layer, a domain wall displacement layer having domain
wall-resistant magnetism smaller than the memory layer, and a switching
layer having a lower Curie temperature than these layers interposed
between these layers. A recording surface of the magneto-optic recording
medium is divided into a plurality of tracks of a predetermined track
pitch. A domain wall displacement layer has a recording track region
limited in a track width direction in a central portion of each track. A
magnetized state of a vertically magnetized memory layer is only
transferred in the recording track region. A buffer region is
magnetically oriented in an in-plane direction at a predetermined
temperature or lower and is vertically magnetized at the predetermined
temperature or higher.