Symbology

Cont/Disc

Two/Many

Uses

Plessey

Continuous

Two

Catalogs, store shelves, inventory

U.P.C.

Continuous

Many

Worldwide retail, GS1 approved

Codabar

Discrete

Two

Old format used in libraries, blood banks, airbills

Code 25 – Non-interleaved 2 of 5

Continuous

Two

Industrial (NO)

Code 25 – Interleaved 2 of 5

Continuous

Two

Wholesale, Libraries (NO)

Code 39

Discrete

Two

Various

Code 93

Continuous

Many

Various

Code 128

Continuous

Many

Various

Code 128A

Continuous

Many

Various

Code 128B

Continuous

Many

Various

Code 128C

Continuous

Many

Various

Code 11

Discrete

Two

Telephones

CPC Binary

Discrete

Two

Post office

DUN 14

Continuous

Many

Various

EAN 2

 

Many

Addon code (Magazines), GS1 approved

EAN 5

Continuous

Many

Addon code (Books), GS1 approved

EAN 8, EAN 13

Continuous

Many

Worldwide retail, GS1 approved

GS1-128 (formerly known as UCC/EAN-128), incorrectly referenced as EAN 128 and UCC 128

Continuous

Many

Various, GS1 approved

GS1 DataBar formerly Reduced Space Symbology (RSS)

Continuous

Many

Various, GS1 approved

ITF-14

Continuous

Many

Non-retail packaging levels, GS1 approved

Latent image barcode

Neither

Tall/short

Color print film

Pharmacode

Neither

Two

Pharmaceutical Packaging

PLANET

Continuous

Tall/short

United States Postal Service

POSTNET

Continuous

Tall/short

United States Postal Service

OneCode

Continuous

Tall/short

United States Postal Service, replaces POSTNET and PLANET symbols

MSI

Continuous

Two

Used for warehouse shelves and inventory

PostBar

Discrete

Many

Post office

RM4SCC / KIX

Continuous

Tall/short

Royal Mail / Royal TPG Post

Telepen

Continuous

Two

Libraries, etc (UK)

 

2D barcodes

 

This piece of 35mm film shows two different 2D barcodes used in film: Dolby Digital (between the sprocket holes with the “Double-D” logo in the middle) and Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (in the blue area to the left of the sprocket holes). Embedded digital audio is but one use of 2D barcodes.

A matrix code, also known as a 2D barcode or simply a 2D code, is a two-dimensional way of representing information. It is similar to a linear (1-dimensional) barcode, but has more data representation capability.

Symbology

Notes

3-DI

Developed by Lynn Ltd.

ArrayTag

From ArrayTech Systems.

Aztec Code

Designed by Andrew Longacre at Welch Allyn (now Hand Held Products). Public domain.

Small Aztec Code

Space-saving version of Aztec code.

bCODE

An SMS text code sent to mobile devices and read photographically.

Bullseye

The barcode tested in a Kroger store in Cincinnati. It used concentric bars.

Codablock

Stacked 1D barcodes.

Code 1

Public domain.

Code 16K

Based on 1D Code 128.

Code 49

Stacked 1D barcodes from Intermec Corp.

Color code

Mainly used for cell phones in Korea.

CP Code

From CP Tron, Inc.

DataGlyphs

From Palo Alto Research Center (also known as Xerox PARC). See http://www.dataglyphs.com for details.

Datamatrix

From RVSI Acuity CiMatrix/Siemens. Believed to be public domain, but this status is being challenged. See Datamatrix#Patent Issues for details.

Datastrip Code

From Datastrip, Inc.

Dot Code A

Designed for the unique identification of items.

EZcode

Designed for decoding by cameraphones. http://www.scanbuy.com

High Capacity Color Barcode

Developed by Microsoft; licensed by ISAN-IA.

HueCode

From Robot Design Associates. Uses greyscale or colour.

INTACTA.CODE

From INTACTA Technologies, Inc.

InterCode

From Iconlab, Inc. The standard 2D barcode in South Korea. All 3 South Korean mobile carriers put the scanner program of this code into their handsets to access mobile internet, as a default embedded program.

MaxiCode

Used by United Parcel Service. Now Public Domain

mCode

Developed by Nextcode Corporation specifically for camera phone scanning applications. Designed to enable advanced cell mobile applications with standard camera phones.

MiniCode

From Omniplanar, Inc.

PDF417

Originated by Symbol Technologies Public Domain. The most common 2D barcode.

Micro PDF417

Facilitates codes too small to be used in PDF417.

PDMark

Developer by Ardaco.

PaperDisk

High density code — used both for data heavy applications (10K-1 MB) and camera phones (50+ bits). Developed and patented by Cobblestone Software

Optar

Developed by Twibright Labs and published as free software. Aims at maximum data storage density, for storing data on paper. 200kB per A4 page with laser printer.

QR Code

Developed, patented and owned by TOYOTA subsidiary Denso Wave initially for car parts management. Now public domain. Can encode Japanese Kanji and Kana characters, music, images, URLs, emails. De-facto standard for Japanese cell phones.

Semacode

A Data Matrix code used to encode URLs for applications using cellular phones with cameras.

SmartCode

From InfoImaging Technologies.

Snowflake Code

From Marconi Data Systems, Inc.

ShotCode

Circular barcodes for camera phones by OP3. Originally from High Energy Magic Ltd in name Spotcode. Before that probably known as TRIPCode.

SuperCode

Public domain.

Trillcode

From Lark Computers. Designed to work with mobile devices camera or webcam PC. Can encode a variety of “actions”.

UltraCode

Black-and-white & colour versions. Public domain. Invented by Jeffrey Kaufman and Clive Hohberger.

VeriCode, VSCode

From Veritec, Inc.

WaterCode

High-density 2D Barcode(440bytes/cm2) From MarkAny Inc.