The Ultimate Barcode Cheat Sheet

Barcodes on tags are a great and easy way to identify assets, inventory, products and more. Different codes hold different types or amounts of information. Check out the barcodes that we offer below to decided which one is best for your application.

QR Code (Quick Response Code)

• 2D Barcode
• Can contain up to 4,296 alphanumeric characters
• Typically leads to a website
• Developed in 1994
• Can be scanned with a smart phone or 2D scanner
• Great for promotional uses, walking trails, tree tags, memorial sites and more.

Data Matrix

• 2D Barcode
• Can contain up to 2,335 alphanumeric characters
• Great for encoding large amounts of information on a small amount of space
• Most secure barcode there is
• Developed in 1989
• Can be scanned with a smart phone or 2D scanner
• Great for industrial uses, asset tracking, and any application that requires the tag to hold a lot of information.

Linear

• 1D Barcode
• Developed in 1960s
• Can be scanned with a 1D scanner and most 2D scanners
• Code 39
  • Can encrypt the alphabet, digits 0-9, and special characters: – “. $ % + –  / *”
  • Uses 9 elements per character (5 bars and 4 spaces)
  • Larger in size
  • Great for encoding short serial numbers
• Code 128
  • Can encrypt all 128 ASCII symbols
  • Uses 6 elements per character (3 bars and 3 spaces)
  • More space efficient
  • Great for encoding long strings of information
• Interleaved 2 of 5
  • Used for wing bands
  • Numeric code with up to 6 numbers on band sizes 3, 3.5, 4 (if you want 5 there will be a preceding zero) Up to 4 numbers on size 2.75
  • Can be scanned with a 1D scanner or a smart phone