This invention relates to a magnetooptical recording medium that is capable of direct overwriting by light intensity modulation without using a separate source for generating an external magnetic field and that has four magnetic layers superposed on a substrate, wherein said magnetic layers has vertical magnetic anisotropy and any two adjacent layers being bound by exchange force. The medium is characterized in that a fifth magnetic layer not bound by exchange force is provided over the fourth magnetic layer or that a layer made of a rare earth element/transition metal alloy in which the magnetization of rare earth elements is dominant is provided between the first and second magnetic layers which are bound together by exchange force.
