Abstract: A compact steel cord is provided. The cord includes a core-filament I steel wire with a diameter of d0, and four middle-layer M steel wires with a diameter of d1 and eight outer-layer O steel wires with a diameter of d2 that are twisted around the core-filament I steel wire in the same lay direction and the same lay length. Gaps L are reserved between the outer-layer O steel wires, an average width of the gaps L is not smaller than 0.02 mm, and the total size of the gaps L is larger than d0 and smaller than d1. The steel cord of a stable structure can be obtained by controlling the proportion of the sizes of all layers of monofilaments, the rubber coating performance of a tire cord can also be improved, the corrosion resistance, fatigue resistance, impact resistance and adhesion retention of a tire are improved.