Introduction to basic knowledge of barcodes
Edit： Click： Times Date：2026-1-12
I. What is a barcode? What are the benefits of using barcodes?
A barcode is composed of a set of bars and spaces arranged according to certain encoding rules, representing information consisting of certain characters, numbers, and symbols.
Advantages:
1. Reliable and accurate.
2. Fast data input speed.
3. Economical and affordable.
4. Flexible and practical.
5. High degree of freedom.
6. The equipment is simple.
7 Easy to make.
II. Barcode printing process
1. What is a barcode system? A barcode system refers to the encoding rules of a barcode, which are unique, permanent, and meaningless.
2. What are the classifications of barcodes, and what are the different symbologies?
2.1 One-dimensional barcode: It expresses information in one direction (usually horizontal) and does not express any information in the vertical direction. Its certain height is usually for the convenience of alignment by readers. Disadvantages:
• Small data capacity: about 30 characters;
• Can only contain letters and numbers;
• The barcode size is relatively large (low space utilization);
• The barcode cannot be read if damaged.
2.2 One-dimensional barcode systems: Code39 (standard 39 code), Codabar (Codabar code), Code25 (standard 25 code), ITF25 (Interleaved 25 code), Matrix25 (Matrix 25 code), UPC-A (Universal Product Code-A), UPC-E (Universal Product Code-E), EAN-13 (European Article Number-13), EAN-8 (European Article Number-8), Code128 (Code 128)
2.2.1 EAN 13/8: EAN barcode symbols come in two versions: the standard version consisting of 13 digits and the shortened version consisting of 8 digits.
EAN13 consists of 13 digits: the first 3 digits on the left are the country code, with China represented by 690~692; the next 4 digits are the manufacturer code; the next 5 digits are the product code (each manufacturer can assign codes to the 100,000 products they produce); and the last digit is the check digit, calculated from the preceding 12 or 7 digits. Additionally, books and periodicals, as special types of products, also use EAN13 to represent ISBN and ISSN. The prefix 977 is used for the ISSN, while the ISBN for books uses the prefix 978. In China, ISBN numbers are assigned starting with 7, so the barcodes on books published in China all start with 9787. The various components are as follows:
• Left margin area, 11 modules wide. Start pattern, consisting of 3 modules.
• Left data symbol, representing 6 digits of information, consisting of 42 modules.
• Middle separator, consisting of 5 modules.
• Right data symbol, representing a set of barcode characters for 5 digits of information, consisting of 35 modules.
• Check digit, consisting of 7 modules.
• Stop pattern, consisting of 3 modules.
• Right margin area, with a minimum width of 7 modules.
• Human-readable characters, corresponding to the 13 digits of the barcode. The minimum distance between the top of the characters and the bottom of the barcode characters is 0.5 modules wide. The prefix in the human-readable characters of the EAN-13 product barcode is printed to the left of the start pattern of the barcode symbol.
2.2.2 UPC Code: Similar to EAN barcodes, UPC barcodes are a type of American commercial barcode. UPC barcodes come in two versions: standard and shortened. The standard version consists of 12 digits, while the shortened version consists of 8 digits.
2.2.3 CODE39 (also known as CODE 3 of 9) has only two types of cell widths - wide cells and narrow cells. Characteristics of CODE39:
• Each character is composed of 9 elements, including 5 bars and 4 spaces, with bit spaces between characters;
• It can represent a total of 44 characters, including numbers, letters, and some other symbols (0-9, A-Z, -, ., space, *, $, /, +, %)
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