The complete reference to 55 barcode symbologies — 35 with a free live generator and 20 documented for completeness — across 19 families, plus 30 glossary terms that explain how barcodes are built and read. Each entry gives you the character set, data capacity, check-digit rules, quiet-zone requirements, governing standards, and — for supported formats — an embedded free generator. Start from the comparison table below, jump to a family, or browse the term index.
One table to compare every supported symbology. Rows are grouped by family; click a symbology name for its full specification page with structure details, history, applications, and FAQ.
| Symbology | Type | Character Set | Data Length | Check Digit | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Code 128 | |||||
| Code 128 | Linear (1D) | All 128 ASCII characters: 0-9, A-Z, a-z, punctuation, and control characters (code set dependent) | Variable; no fixed minimum or maximum — bounded only by available label width | Mandatory Mod 103 check character, calculated automatically by the encoder | ISO/IEC 15417; GS1 General Specifications (GS1-128 variant) |
| Code 128A | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9, uppercase A-Z, ASCII control characters (NUL-US), and - . / : + % $ space (ASCII 0-63) | Variable; no fixed minimum or maximum | Mandatory Mod 103 check character, appended automatically | ISO/IEC 15417 |
| Code 128B | Linear (1D) | Full printable ASCII 32-127: digits, upper and lowercase letters, punctuation, and space | Variable; no fixed minimum or maximum | Mandatory Mod 103 check character, appended automatically | ISO/IEC 15417 |
| Code 128C | Linear (1D) | Digit pairs 00-99 only (numeric data) | Variable, but must contain an even number of digits | Mandatory Mod 103 check character, appended automatically | ISO/IEC 15417 |
| GS1-128 | Linear (1D) | Full ASCII via Code 128; AI element strings are largely numeric with defined formats (e.g. YYMMDD dates) | Variable; each AI has its own fixed or predefined-length rule, and symbol size is bounded by label space | Mandatory Mod 103 check character (Code 128) plus AI-embedded check digits such as the GTIN Mod 10 | GS1 General Specifications; symbology basis ISO/IEC 15417 |
| HIBC Code 128 | Linear (1D) | Full ASCII via Code 128; HIBC primary structure uses A-Z, 0-9, - . $ / + % space | Variable; LIC (4 chars) + item (1-13 chars) + optional lot/serial fields, per HIBC rules | Mod 103 (Code 128) plus a mandatory HIBC Mod 43 check character appended to the data | ANSI/HIBC Supplier Labeling Standard (HIBCC); symbology basis ISO/IEC 15417 |
| EAN / UPC | |||||
| EAN-13 | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only | Exactly 13 digits (12 data + 1 check) | Mandatory Mod 10 check digit, computed from the first 12 digits | GS1 General Specifications; symbology basis ISO/IEC 15420 |
| EAN-8 | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only | Exactly 8 digits (7 data + 1 check) | Mandatory Mod 10 check digit | GS1 General Specifications; symbology basis ISO/IEC 15420 |
| EAN-5 | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only | Exactly 5 digits | Hidden Mod 10 check digit encoded in the parity pattern, not printed as text | GS1 General Specifications (add-on supplements) |
| EAN-2 | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only | Exactly 2 digits | Hidden check digit encoded in the parity pattern, not printed as text | GS1 General Specifications (add-on supplements) |
| UPC-A | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only | Exactly 12 digits (11 data + 1 check) | Mandatory Mod 10 check digit | GS1 General Specifications; symbology basis ISO/IEC 15420 |
| UPC-E | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only (the underlying UPC-A must meet zero-suppression rules) | 6 encoded data digits + system digit + check digit; expands to 12 | Mandatory Mod 10 check digit (same as the underlying UPC-A) | GS1 General Specifications; symbology basis ISO/IEC 15420 |
| GS1-14 (GTIN-14) | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only | Exactly 14 digits (indicator + 12 data + 1 check) | Mandatory Mod 10 check digit over the full 14 digits | GS1 General Specifications |
| 2D Barcodes | |||||
| QR Code | 2D Matrix | Four modes: numeric (0-9), alphanumeric (45 chars), byte (ISO-8859-1 / UTF-8), and kanji/kana | Up to 7,089 numeric / 4,296 alphanumeric / 2,953 bytes / 1,817 kanji characters (version 40-L) | No check digit; integrity via Reed-Solomon error correction (levels L/M/Q/H) | ISO/IEC 18004 (originally Denso Wave AIM specification) |
| Data Matrix | 2D Matrix | ASCII by default; extended via ECI (UTF-8 and other code pages) | Up to 3,116 numeric / 2,335 alphanumeric / 1,556 bytes (ECC 200, 144×144) | No check digit; fixed Reed-Solomon ECC 200 correction (up to ~25% damage recoverable on large symbols) | ISO/IEC 16022 (ECC 200); AIM USS Data Matrix |
| PDF417 | Stacked | Text mode (alphanumeric compaction), numeric mode, and byte mode; extended via ECI | Up to 1,850 text / 2,710 numeric / 1,108 bytes per symbol | No check digit; Reed-Solomon error correction, levels 0-8 (selectable) | ISO/IEC 15438; AIM USS PDF417 |
| Aztec Code | 2D Matrix | Numeric, alphanumeric (upper and lower case), byte, and digit-pair compaction modes | Up to 3,832 numeric / 3,067 alphanumeric / 1,914 bytes (full range) | No check digit; Reed-Solomon correction selectable in 23 steps (~5%-95%) | ISO/IEC 24778; AIM USS Aztec Code |
| Code 39 | |||||
| Code 39 | Linear (1D) | 43 characters: 0-9, A-Z, space, and - . $ / + % (full ASCII via Code 39 Extended) | Variable; no fixed minimum or maximum | Optional Mod 43 check character (mandatory in LOGMARS and some industry standards) | ISO/IEC 16388; AIM USS-39; ANSI/AIM BC1 |
| Code 39 Extended | Linear (1D) | Full ASCII 0-127 via two-character shift sequences over the base 43-character set | Variable; non-base characters consume two code positions each | Optional Mod 43 (computed over the transmitted ASCII data, not the shift pairs) | ISO/IEC 16388 (extended interpretation); AIM USS-39 |
| HIBC Code 39 | Linear (1D) | Code 39 base set (0-9, A-Z, space, - . $ / + %); HIBC strings are uppercase alphanumeric plus - . $ / + % | Variable; LIC (4 chars) + item (1-13 chars) + optional lot/serial fields | Mandatory HIBC Mod 43 check character appended to the data | ANSI/HIBC Supplier Labeling Standard (HIBCC); symbology basis ISO/IEC 16388 |
| ITF | |||||
| ITF (Interleaved 2 of 5) | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only | Variable; must be an even number of digits | None mandatory; optional Mod 10 check digit commonly appended | ISO/IEC 16390; AIM USS-I 2 of 5 |
| ITF-14 | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only | Exactly 14 digits (GTIN-14 incl. Mod 10 check digit) | Mandatory Mod 10 check digit (part of the GTIN-14) | GS1 General Specifications; symbology basis ISO/IEC 16390 |
| MSI Plessey | |||||
| MSI Plessey (Mod 10) | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only | Variable; typically 4-12 digits | One Mod 10 (Luhn-style) check digit appended | No ISO standard; AIM MSI specification and vendor conventions |
| MSI Plessey (Mod 11) | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only (check digit may render as X) | Variable; typically 4-12 digits | One Mod 11 weighted check digit (may be X) | No ISO standard; vendor conventions |
| MSI Plessey (Mod 1010) | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only | Variable; typically 4-12 data digits + 2 check digits | Two chained Mod 10 check digits | No ISO standard; vendor conventions |
| MSI Plessey (Mod 1110) | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only | Variable; typically 4-12 data digits + 2 check digits | Mod 11 check digit followed by a Mod 10 check digit over data+Mod11 | No ISO standard; vendor conventions |
| Pharmacode | |||||
| Pharmacode | Linear (1D) | A single integer from 3 to 131070 (no letters or symbols) | One number, 3-131070 | None — the entire sparse encoding acts as the verification mechanism | Laetus proprietary specification |
| Codabar | |||||
| Codabar | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9, $ - : / . + , plus start/stop characters A-D (or T N * E variants) | Variable; start and stop letters are not transmitted as data | None required; optional Mod 16 and similar schemes exist for critical flows | ANSI/AIM BC3; no current ISO symbology standard |
| GS1 DataBar | |||||
| GS1 DataBar Omnidirectional | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only (GTIN content) | Exactly 14 digits (13 data + Mod 10 check) | Mandatory Mod 10 check digit | GS1 General Specifications |
| GS1 DataBar Limited | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only (indicator restricted to 0 or 1) | Exactly 14 digits (13 data + Mod 10 check) | Mandatory Mod 10 check digit | GS1 General Specifications |
| GS1 DataBar Expanded | Stacked | GS1 AI element strings — numeric AIs with some alphanumeric fields (max 41 alpha / 74 numeric chars) | Variable; up to 74 numeric or 41 alphanumeric characters of AI data | GTIN Mod 10 check digit embedded in the AI (01) element; no separate symbol check digit | GS1 General Specifications |
| GS1 DataBar Stacked | Stacked | Digits 0-9 only (GTIN content) | Exactly 14 digits (13 data + Mod 10 check) | Mandatory Mod 10 check digit | GS1 General Specifications |
| Publishing | |||||
| ISBN | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only (13-digit ISBN/EAN; 5-digit add-on) | ISBN-13: exactly 13 digits; plus optional 5-digit price supplement | Mandatory Mod 10 check digit (same algorithm as EAN-13) | ISO 2108 (numbering); GS1 General Specifications (symbol) |
| ISMN | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only | Exactly 13 digits (979-0 prefix + 8 data digits + Mod 10 check) | Mandatory Mod 10 check digit | ISO 10957 (numbering); GS1 General Specifications (symbol) |
| ISSN | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only | 8-digit ISSN expanded to 13 EAN digits; plus optional 2-digit issue add-on | ISSN uses Mod 11 (X possible); the EAN-13 carrier uses Mod 10 | ISO 3297 (numbering); GS1 General Specifications (symbol) |
| Code 93 | |||||
| Code 93 | Linear (1D) | 0-9, A-Z, minus, period, space, $ / % +; full ASCII via shift characters | Variable; practical limit ~70 characters | Two mandatory check characters (C and K, modulus 47) | ANSI/AIM BC5-1995 (AIM USS-93) |
| Code 11 | |||||
| Code 11 | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 and the hyphen (11 characters total) | Variable; typically 10-12 digits in practice | Optional one or two Mod 11 check digits | AIM USS-11 |
| Code 2 of 5 | |||||
| Standard 2 of 5 (Industrial 2 of 5) | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only | Variable; even number of digits preferred | None in the base specification (optional Mod 10 in some systems) | AIM USS-ITF25 ancestor; no current ISO standard |
| IATA 2 of 5 | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only | Variable; fixed segments in baggage applications | None mandatory (application-dependent) | IATA Resolution 740 family |
| Matrix 2 of 5 | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 only | Variable | None standard (optional Mod 10) | No active ISO/AIM standard (vendor legacy) |
| Plessey | |||||
| Plessey | Linear (1D) | Hexadecimal: 0-9 and A-F | Variable | Cyclic redundancy check sequence (not a simple check digit) | Plessey Company proprietary (1971); no ISO standard |
| Stacked Linear | |||||
| Code 49 | Stacked | Full ASCII (128 characters) via mode encoding | Up to 49 alphanumeric characters (2-8 rows) | One row check character per row plus a final check character | AIM USS-49 |
| Code 16K | Stacked | Full ASCII via Code 128 code sets A/B | Up to 107 alphanumeric / 154 numeric characters | Row check characters plus one Mod 107 symbol check | AIM USS-16K (ANSI/AIM BC6) |
| Codablock | Stacked | Codablock F: full Code 128 ASCII character set | Up to ~1,000 characters (Codablock F) | Per-row Code 128 check characters plus block check | AIM USS-Codablock F; DIN EN 728/1556 lineage |
| Pharmaceutical IDs | |||||
| Code 32 (Italian Pharmacode) | Linear (1D) | Code 39 subset encoding AIFA license characters (0-9 and selected letters) | Fixed 9-character Italian authorization code | One Mod 4-based check character defined by AIFA rules | AIFA / Italian pharmaceutical labeling rules |
| PZN (Pharma-Zentralnummer) | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 (Code 39 carrier) | PZN 8: 7 data digits + 1 Mod 11 check digit | Mod 11 check digit (weight 1-9 cycle), mandatory | IFA PZN standard (Code 39 carrier) |
| Postal & Carrier | |||||
| Identcode | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 (ITF carrier) | 12 digits (11 data + 1 Mod 10 check) | Mod 10 check digit, mandatory | Deutsche Post internal standard (ITF carrier) |
| Leitcode | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 (ITF carrier) | 14 digits (13 data + 1 Mod 10 check) | Mod 10 check digit, mandatory | Deutsche Post internal standard (ITF carrier) |
| POSTNET | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 | 5, 6, 9, or 11 digits + 1 check digit | Mod 10 check digit, mandatory | US Postal Service (retired 2013 in favor of IMb) |
| PLANET | Linear (1D) | Digits 0-9 | 11 or 13 digits + 1 check digit | Mod 10 check digit, mandatory | US Postal Service (retired 2013 in favor of IMb) |
| Royal Mail 4-State Customer Code (RM4SCC) | Linear (1D) | Alphanumeric (A-Z, 0-9) per Royal Mail convention | Postcode + delivery point suffix (application-defined) | Checksum characters defined per Royal Mail rules | Royal Mail Cleanmail specification; UPU 4-state family |
| Telepen | |||||
| Telepen | Linear (1D) | Full ASCII, including control characters | Variable; constant width per character | None mandatory (structure is self-checking by design) | SB Electronic Systems / Telepen Ltd proprietary |
| Compact 2D | |||||
| Micro QR Code | 2D Matrix | Numeric, alphanumeric, Kanji, and byte modes (per version) | Up to 35 digits / 21 alphanumeric (M4) | Reed-Solomon error correction (L/M/Q per version) | ISO/IEC 18004 (Micro QR annex) |
| MicroPDF417 | Stacked | Byte compaction up to 366 bytes; numeric and text modes | Up to 366 bytes | Reed-Solomon error correction per configuration | ISO/IEC 24728 |
| MaxiCode | 2D Matrix | ASCII (Mode 4/5 data); structured carrier formats (Modes 2/3) | Up to ~93 characters per symbol (chainable) | Reed-Solomon error correction (levels 1-2 selection) | ISO/IEC 16023; AIM ISS-MaxiCode |
The high-density full-ASCII family that powers modern logistics — including the GS1-128 and HIBC application standards built on top of it.
The fixed-length retail numbering system scanned at point of sale worldwide: EAN-13, UPC-A, their short forms, and add-on supplements.
Matrix and stacked symbologies that pack hundreds or thousands of characters into a small footprint and correct damage via Reed-Solomon math.
The 1974 self-checking alphanumeric classic — simple, forgiving to print, and still mandated by defense and automotive standards.
Interleaved 2 of 5 and its GS1 carton application: dense numeric-only encoding that survives printing directly on corrugate.
A digits-only inventory symbology with four check-digit schemes, surviving on warehouse and legacy retail installed base.
A proprietary integer code from Laetus whose sparse encoding turns the whole symbol into a packaging-line verification check.
A self-checking 1972 format with start/stop letters, still running in libraries, blood banks, and legacy photo-finishing systems.
GS1's compact retail family for items too small for EAN/UPC — including stacked and expanded variants carrying weight and lot data.
The ISO numbering identifiers for books, printed music, and serials, all riding on EAN-13 carriers with price or issue add-ons.
A denser, more secure successor to Code 39 with a wider character set and two check characters — still used in some defense and automotive supply chains.
A digits-only symbology with two check digits, designed for telecom equipment labeling where a single misread is costly.
A family of numeric-only linear codes (Industrial, Interleaved, IATA) prized for simplicity in warehouse and airline applications.
An early numeric symbology surviving mainly in library, retail, and blood-bank legacy systems.
Linear symbologies stacked into rows (PDF417, Code 16K, Code 49) to carry far more data in a narrow footprint.
Medical and pharma marking codes (HIBC, PZN, Pharmaceutical Binary) that embed identifiers and unit-of-use data on doses and devices.
The 4-state and customer codes used by postal authorities and carriers (USPS, Royal Mail, Australia Post) for mail and parcel sortation.
A UK-developed numeric and ASCII symbology common in libraries and healthcare, optimized for direct marking on membership and specimen media.
Space-saving 2D variants (Micro QR, MicroPDF417, Rectangular Micro QR) for tiny tags and curved or limited-print-area surfaces.
Plain-English definitions for the vocabulary that appears across every specification — module, quiet zone, check digit, X-dimension, magnification, verification grades, GS1 Application Identifiers, and more. Click any term for its full explanation and the symbologies it applies to.
Use EAN-13 (worldwide) or UPC-A (North America) for consumer units, and ITF-14 / GS1-128 on shipping cartons. Numbers must come from GS1 — the symbology is only the picture that carries them.
Code 128 is the default answer: full ASCII, high density, mandatory check digit. If your partners follow GS1 flows, move to GS1-128 with Application Identifiers.
Switch to 2D: QR Code for URLs and consumer scanning, Data Matrix for the smallest industrial marks and pharma serialization, PDF417 for document-scale payloads.
