Abstract: The invention relates to a process for coating a metal strip, in which a layer of an oxidizable metal or an oxidizable metal alloy or a metal oxide is vacuum-deposited on a metal strip precoated with zinc or with a zinc alloy, the coated metal strip is then coiled, and the wound coil undergoes a static diffusion treatment so as to obtain a strip having a coating that comprises, in the upper portion, a layer of an alloy formed by diffusion of the oxidizable metal or the oxidizable metal alloy in all or part of the zinc or zinc alloy layer, and also to equipment for implementing the process.