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The rare-earth (RE)-based magnetic solids with large magneto-caloric effect (MCE) have been well investigated recently due to their potential applications in the field of environmentally friendly cryogenic magnetic refrigeration (MR). Herein, two polycrystalline RE-based REFe2Si2 (RE = Dy and Tb) intermetallic compounds have been prepared by an arc-melting way and determined with regard to the structural and magnetic phase transition (MPT) properties as well as the MCE and magneto-caloric performance. Both of the present REFe2Si2 compounds at room temperature are crystallized in a ThCr2Si2-type structure and undergo a first-ordered MPT from antiferromagnetic to paramagnetic state around the Néel temperature (TN) of ~ 4.05 K for DyFe2Si2 and ~ 6.25 K for TbFe2Si2, respectively. Large cryogenic MC effect together with excellent MC performance have been realized in DyFe2Si2 compound. The MC parameters with magnetic field change at 0–5 T of the maximum magnetic entropy changes and the refrigerant capacity/relative cooling power were found to be 16.08 J/kgK and 318.5/403.3 J/kg for DyFe2Si2 and to be 9.88 J/kgK and 105.9/140.8 J/kg for TbFe2Si2, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]