A magnetic tape for use in a tape drive includes a plurality of tracks and a plurality of media defect characteristics. The plurality of tracks are laid out along a length of the magnetic tape, each of the plurality of tracks being configured to receive data that is organized into a plurality of fixed-size subdata sets each including a plurality of codeword interleaves. The data is laid out on the plurality of tracks in accordance with a tape layout allocation strategy as determined by a tape layout module. The tape layout module includes a tape layout optimization system that receives information on the plurality of media defect characteristics, the tape layout optimization system determining the tape layout allocation strategy based at least in part on at least one of the plurality of media defect characteristics; and the tape layout optimization system determining the tape layout allocation strategy further based on distance spectra between pairs of the plurality of codeword interleaves.