Bar Code Symbologies

Bar Code Terminology

Frequently Asked Questions

UPC

Usage

Used primarily by Retail Industry, in U.S.A. and Canada. One dimensional, continuous, four element widths and fixed length. Left 6-10 digits assigned by Uniform Code Council, rest to total of 11 digits is selected by you, 12th is check digit, calculated by mod 10 formula. Version A is 12 digits. Version E is 6 digits. A 2-digit add-on is used by periodicals and a 5-digit add-on is used on paper back books and greeting cards. On January 1, 2005 this symbology will look like EAN and it will be called GTIN (Global Trade Item Number)

Character set

0-9 only

Module Width (X)

0.013" @ 100%

Height

1.02" @ 100% (from top of the bars to bottom of the numbers, if you don't have a decimal ruler use 1 1/16")

Width

1.235" @ 100%

Quiet Zone

0.117" @ 100% (if you don't have a decimal ruler use 1/8")

Range

80% - 200% for press printed (76% for thermal transfer and laser printed, but must use height and quiet zone requirements of the 80% symbol)

EAN

Usage

Used primarily by Retail Industry, in Europe and the rest of the world and is a superset of U.P.C. One dimensional, continuous, four element widths and fixed length. Left 7-11 digits assigned by EAN governing body, rest to total of 12 digits is selected by you, 13th is check digit, calculated by mod 10 formula. EAN13 has 13 digits and EAN8 has 8 digits.

Other Specifications

See UPC for all the other specifications.

Bookland EAN

Usage

Used only by the book industry. It is an EAN-13 with 5-digit add-on. Based on ISBN assigned by R. R. Bowker. Starts with Country code of 978, followed by the left 9 digits of ISBN, 13th is check digit, calculated by mod 10 formula.
For add on, start with 5 for U.S. Dollars followed with price ($7.95 -> 50795) if no price, must put 90000 for the 5 digit add-on.

NEW! As of Jan. 1, 2007 all 10 digit ISBN's must become 13 digit ISBN's to fit into Global TGIN system. Addition of two lines of text above the code helps to address that. First line lists all thirteen digits (978 plus 10 digits), second line lists only the original 10 digits.

Width

1.971" @ 100%

Other Specifications

See UPC for all the other specifications.

Interleaved 2 of 5 (I2of5)

Usage

Used primarily by distribution industry. High density, self-checking, continuous. Every character encodes two digits, one in the bars and on in the spaces therefore the symbol must have even number of digits.
Ratio:

Character set

0-9 only

Module Width (X)

0.0075" min.

Height

15% of width, 0.25" min.

Width

Variable

Ratio

2-3, 2.2 min. for X<0.02"

Quiet Zone

10X, 0.25" min.

Shipping Container Code - UCC14

Usage

Based on Interleaved 2 of 5, Must have 14 digits.
1st digit based on packaging level, 2nd digit 0, 3rd to 13th same as UPC (or 2nd to 13th same as EAN). 14th is check digit, calculated by mod 10 formula.

Module Width (X)

0.040" @ 1.00 Magnification

Height

1.25" @ 1.00 Magnification

Width

4.82" @ 1.00 Magnification

Ratio

2.5

Quiet Zone

0.40" @ 1.00 Magnification(if you don't have a decimal ruler use 13/32")

Range

0.7 to 1.2 Magnification Factor for printing on corrugated. (0.625 to 1.2 Magnification Factor for labels)

Other Specifications

See Interleaved 2 of 5 code for all the other specifications.

Codabar

Usage

Used primarily by libraries, blood banks air parcel industry. Discrete, self-checking, variable length. Four different start/stop characters allow useful in formation to be encoded in these overhead characters.

Character set

0-9, - $ : / . + (A, B, C, D as start/stop)

Module Width (X)

0.0075" min.

Height

15% of width, 0.25" min.

Width

Variable

Quiet Zone

10X, 0.25" min.

Code 3 of 9
(Code 39)

Usage

First and the most popular alphanumeric bar code. Used by a wide range of industries. Discrete, self-checking, variable length. Mod 43 check digit is optional for security. Extended version will code lower case and ASCII. Readers must be programed to decode the extended format.

Character set

0-9, A-Z, - . space $ / + %

Module Width (X)

0.0075" min

Height

15% of width, 0.25" min.

Width

Variable

Ratio

2-3, 2.2 min. for X<0.02"

Quiet Zone

10X, 0.25" min.

HIBC

Usage

(Health Industry Bar Code) Used primarily by health industry. Based on code 39 with mod 43 check digit.
Must start with a "+"

Other Specifications

See code 3 of 9 for all the other specifications.

Code 128

Usage

Newest of the popular bar codes, very high density, variable length, continuous, multiple widths, and has internal check digit. There are three sub sets, A, B & C. in Sub set C, 00 to 99 only, must have even number of digits.

Character set

All 128 ASCII characters

Module Width (X)

0.0075" min.

Height

15% of width, 0.25" min.

Width

Variable

Quiet Zone

10X, 0.25" min.