Ab initio calculations on hard/soft (FePt)m/(FeCo)n, (m = 4, 6, 8 and n = 2-2m) magnetic superlattices show that the B2 type FeCo layers become anisotropic with varying interlayer spacing and enhanced magnetic moments. The average magnetic moment in superlattices is higher than in bulk FePt, resulting in high maximum energy product for (FePt)4/(FeCo)8 which is nearly double the calculated value for bulk FePt. The calculation of the magnetic anisotropy energy shows that the optimal thickness of the soft magnetic phase for good permanent magnet behaviour of the superlattice is less than ∼2 nm. © 2016 Author(s).