Two-Dimensional symbols

Click here for a condensed list of two-dimensional symbologies.

Data Matrix ECC200 (ISO 16022)

Also known as Semacode, this symbology was developed in 1989 by Acuity CiMatrix in partnership with the US DoD and NASA. The symbol can encode a large amount of data in a small area. characters in the Latin-1 set by default but also supports encoding GS1 data or other character sets using the ECI mechanism.

Note

A separate symbology ID can be used to encode Health Industry Barcode (HIBC) data which adds a leading + character and a modulo-49 check digit to the encoded data.

Note

Only ECC200 encoding is supported.

Data Matrix Options

The resolution of the Data Matrix can be adjusted to one of the following two options, via the DataMatrix enumerated type.

• DM_DMRE - Resolution automatically determined (default).
• DM_SQUARE - Square Data Matrix.

Example

createStream({
  symbology: SymbologyType.DATAMATRIX,
  option3: DataMatrix.DM_SQUARE
}, '12345')

Data Matrix Size

The size of the generated symbol can also be adjusted using the by setting option2 to one of the following input values:

Input	Symbol Size	Input	Symbol Size
1	10 x 10	16	64 x 64
2	12 x 12	17	72 x 72
3	14 x 14	18	80 x 80
4	16 x 16	19	88 x 88
5	18 x 18	20	96 x 96
6	20 x 20	21	104 x 104
7	22 x 22	22	120 x 120
8	24 x 24	23	132 x 132
9	26 x 26	24	144 x 144
10	32 x 32	25	8 x 18
11	36 x 36	26	8 x 32
12	40 x 40	27	12 x 26
13	44 x 44	28	12 x 36
14	48 x 48	29	16 x 36
15	52 x 52	30	16 x 48

Tip

To force the symbol to be rendered as a square (versions 1-24), set option3 to DM_SQUARE Data Matrix option.

Data Matrix Rectangular Extension (DMRE)

DMRE may be generated by setting option2 to one of the following values:

Input	Symbol Size	Input	Symbol Size
31	8 x 48	35	24 x 48
32	8 x 64	36	24 x 64
33	12 x 64	37	26 x 48
34	16 x 64	38	26 x 64

Tip

DMRE symbol sizes may be activated in automatic mode by setting option3 to the DM_SQUARE Data Matrix option.

QR Code (ISO 18004)

Also known as Quick Response Code, this symbology was developed by Denso.

Error correction

Four levels of error correction are available by setting option1 to one of the following input values:

Input	ECC Level	Error Correction Capacity	Recovery Capacity
1	L (default)	Approx 20% of symbol	Approx 7%
2	M	Approx 37% of symbol	Approx 15%
3	Q	Approx 55% of symbol	Approx 25%
4	H	Approx 65% of symbol	Approx 30%

Example

The following example creates a QR code:

createStream({
  symbology: SymbologyType.QRCODE,
  option2: 1
}, '12345')

QR Code Size

The size of the symbol can be set to the QR Code version required (1-40). The size of symbol generated can be set by passing option2 to one of the following input values:

Input	Symbol Size	Input	Symbol Size
1	21 x 21	21	101 x 101
2	25 x 25	22	105 x 105
3	29 x 29	23	109 x 109
4	33 x 33	24	113 x 113
5	37 x 37	25	117 x 117
6	41 x 41	26	121 x 121
7	45 x 45	27	125 x 125
8	49 x 49	28	129 x 129
9	53 x 53	29	133 x 133
10	57 x 57	30	137 x 137
11	61 x 61	31	141 x 141
12	65 x 65	32	145 x 145
13	69 x 69	33	149 x 149
14	73 x 73	34	153 x 153
15	77 x 77	35	157 x 157
16	81 x 81	36	161 x 161
17	85 x 85	37	165 x 165
18	89 x 89	38	169 x 169
19	93 x 93	39	173 x 173
20	97 x 97	40	177 x 177

Important

The maximum capacity of a (version 40) QR Code symbol is 7089 numeric digits (4296 alphanumeric characters, or 2953 bytes of data).

Encoding GS1 data

QR Code symbols can also be used to encode GS1 data. QR Code symbols can by default encode characters in the Latin-1 set and Kanji characters which are members of the Shift-JIS encoding scheme. QR Code also supports using other character sets using the ECI mechanism.

Note

A separate symbology ID can be used to encode Health Industry Barcode (HIBC) data which adds a leading + character and a modulo-49 check digit to the encoded data.

Micro QR Code (ISO 18004)

A miniature version QR Code for short messages.

Error correction levels can be set the same way as for QR Code by setting option1.

Mini QR Code Size

A preferred symbol size can be selected by using the option2 value to one of the following inputs:

Input	Version	Symbol Size
1	M1	11 x 11
2	M2	13 x 13
3	M3	15 x 15
4	M4	17 x 17

Important

The actual version used may be different if required by the input data.

Rectangular Micro QR Code (rMQR)

A rectangular version of QR Code. Like QR code rMQR supports encoding of GS-1 data, Latin-1 and Kanji characters in the Shift-JIS encoding scheme. It does not support other ISO/IEC 8859 character sets or Unicode. As with other symbologies, data should be entered as UTF-8 with the conversion to Shift-JIS being handled by the library itself.

rMQR Codewords

The amount of ECC codewords can be adjusted the same way as for QR Code by setting option1. Note that only ECC levels M and H are valid for this type of symbol.

Input	ECC Level	Error Correction Capacity	Recovery Capacity
2	M	Approx 37% of symbol	Approx 15%
4	H	Approx 65% of symbol	Approx 30%

rMQR Size

The size of the symbol can be set by setting option2 to the QR Code version required (1-40). The size of symbol generated is shown in the table below.

Input	Version	Symbol Size
1	R7 x 43	7 x 43
2	R7 x 59	7 x 59
3	R7 x 77	7 x 77
4	R7 x 99	7 x 99
5	R7 x 139	7 x 139
6	R9 x 43	9 x 43
7	R9 x 59	9 x 59
8	R9 x 77	9 x 77
9	R9 x 99	9 x 99
10	R9 x 139	9 x 139
11	R11 x 27	11 x 27
12	R11 x 43	11 x 43
13	R11 x 59	11 x 59
14	R11 x 77	11 x 77
15	R11 x 99	11 x 99
16	R11 x 139	11 x 139
17	R13 x 27	13 x 27
18	R13 x 43	13 x 43
19	R13 x 59	13 x 59
20	R13 x 77	13 x 77
21	R13 x 99	13 x 99
22	R13 x 139	13 x 139
23	R17 x 43	15 x 43
24	R15 x 59	15 x 59
25	R15 x 77	15 x 77
26	R15 x 99	15 x 99
27	R15 x 139	15 x 139
28	R17 x 43	17 x 43
29	R17 x 59	17 x 59
30	R17 x 77	17 x 77
31	R17 x 99	17 x 99
32	R17 x 139	17 x 139
33	Fixed height 7
34	Fixed height 9
35	Fixed height 11
36	Fixed height 13
37	Fixed height 15
38	Fixed height 17

Maximizing Non-ASCII Data Density

TIP

Non-ASCII data density may be maximized by by setting option3 to 200 for barcode readers that support it.

UPNQR - Univerzalni Plačilni Nalog QR

A variation of QR code used Združenje Bank Slovenije (Bank Association of Slovenia). The size, error correction level and ECI are automatically set and do not need to be specified.

UPNQR Encoding

UPNQR is unusual in that it uses ISO-8859-2-encoded data. Any UTF-8 data will be automatically converted to ISO-8859-2 format.

Note

If your data is already formatted as ISO-8859-2, set the encoding flag to EncodingMode.DATA_MODE.

Example

The following example creates a symbol from data saved in an ISO-8859-2 file:

createStream({
  symbology: SymbologyType.UPNQR,
  option1: 2,
  borderWidth: 5,
  scale: 3,
  encoding: EncodingMode.DATA_MODE
}, 'to je testna črtna koda')

Maxicode (ISO 16023)

Developed by UPS the Maxicode symbology employs a grid of hexagons surrounding a 'bulls-eye' finder pattern. This symbology is designed for the identification of parcels.

Maxicode symbols can be encoded in one of five modes (via option1) as explained below.

Modes 2 and 3

In modes 2 and 3, Maxicode symbols are composed of two parts named the primary and secondary messages.

The primary message consists of a structured data field which includes various data about the package being sent, and the secondary message usually consists of address data in a data structure.

The format of the primary message required is given in the following table:

Characters	Meaning
1-9	Postcode data which can consist of up to 9 digits (for mode 2) or up to 6 alphanumeric characters (for mode 3). Remaining unused characters should be filled with the SPACE character (ASCII 32).
10-12	Three digit country code according to ISO 3166.
13-15	Three digit service code. This depends on your parcel courier.

The primary message can be set via the primary option. The secondary message uses the normal data entry method.

Example

createStream({
  symbology: SymbologyType.MAXICODE,
  option1: 2,
  primary: '999999999840012'
}, 'Secondary Message Here')

Important

The primary message must be set as the primary value.

Note

When no mode is selected, the appropriate mode will be automatically selected based on the content of the primary message.

Modes 4, 5, and 6

Modes 4, 5, and 6 do not require a primary message.

Example

createStream({
  symbology: SymbologyType.MAXICODE,
  option1: 4
}, 'A MaxiCode Message in Mode 4')

Note

Mode 6 is reserved for the maintenance of scanner hardware and should not be used to encode user data.

Maximum Data Lengths

This symbology uses Latin-1 character encoding by default but also supports the ECI encoding mechanism. The maximum length of text which can be placed in a Maxicode symbol depends on the type of characters used in the text.

Example maximum data lengths are given in the table below:

Mode	Maximum Data Length for Capital Letters	Maximum Data Length for Numeric Digits	Number of Error Correction Codewords
2 (secondary only)	84	126	50
3 (secondary only)	84	126	50
4	93	135	50
5	77	110	66
6	93	135	50

Aztec Code (ISO 24778)

Invented by Andrew Longacre at Welch Allyn Inc in 1995, the Aztec Code symbol is a matrix symbol with a distinctive bulls-eye finder pattern.

Important

Depending on the length of the input data, a Compact Aztec Code (sometimes called Small Aztec Code) or a "full-range" Aztec Code may be selected.

Aztec Code supports ECI encoding and can encode up to a maximum length of approximately 3823 numeric or 3067 alphabetic characters or 1914 bytes of data.

Note

A separate symbology ID can be used to encode Health Industry Barcode (HIBC) data which adds a leading + character and a modulo-49 check digit to the encoded data.

Error correction

Error correction codewords will normally be generated to fill at least 23% of the symbol. Symbols which have a specified size the amount of error correction is dependent on the length of the data input. Error correction capacities as low as 3 codewords are acceptable.

There are two ways to change this behavior:

• Specifying the Error correction capacity, via option1
• Specifying the Symbol Size via option2

Error correction capacity

The amount of error correction data can be specified by setting option1 to one of the following modes:

Mode	Error Correction Capacity
1	>10% + 3 codewords
2	>23% + 3 codewords
3	>36% + 3 codewords
4	>50% + 3 codewords

Symbol Size

To specify the desired size of the symbol, set option2 to one of the following input values:

Input	Symbol Size	Input	Symbol Size
1	15 x 15*	19	79 x 79
2	19 x 19*	20	83 x 83
3	23 x 23*	21	87 x 87
4	27 x 27*	22	91 x 91
5	19 x 19	23	95 x 95
6	23 x 23	24	101 x 101
7	27 x 27	25	105 x 105
8	31 x 31	26	109 x 109
9	37 x 37	27	113 x 113
10	41 x 41	28	117 x 117
11	45 x 45	29	121 x 121
12	49 x 49	30	125 x 125
13	53 x 53	31	131 x 131
14	57 x 57	32	135 x 135
15	61 x 61	33	139 x 139
16	67 x 67	34	143 x 143
17	71 x 71	35	147 x 147
18	75 x 75	36	151 x 151

Example

The following will render a 45x45 Aztec Code symbol with 23% error correction capacity:

createStream({
  symbology: SymbologyType.AZTEC,
  option1: 2,
  option2: 11
}, '12345')

Note

The symbols marked with an asterisk (*) in the table below are "compact" symbols, meaning they have a smaller bulls-eye pattern at the centre of the symbol.

Important

It is not possible to select both symbol size and error correction capacity for the same symbol. If both options are selected then the error correction capacity selection will be ignored.

Aztec Runes

Defined in ISO/IEC 24778 (Annex A), a truncated version of compact Aztec Code for encoding whole integers between 0 and 255. Includes Reed-Solomon error correction.

Example

The following will render an Aztec Runes symbol encoding 123:

createStream({
  symbology: SymbologyType.AZRUNE
}, '123')

Code One

A matrix symbology which encodes data in a way similar to Data Matrix ECC200. Code One is able to encode the Latin-1 character set or GS1 data.

There are two types of Code One symbols:

• Variable height symbols, which are roughly square (versions A thought to H).
• Fixed-height versions (version S and T).

The type can be specified by setting option2 to one of the following input values:

Input	Version	Size	Numeric Data Capacity	Alphanumeric Data Capacity
1	A	16 x 18	22	13
2	B	22 x 22	44	27
3	C	28 x 32	104	64
4	D	40 x 42	217	135
5	E	52 x 54	435	271
6	F	70 x 76	886	553
7	G	104 x 98	1755	1096
8	H	148 x 134	3550	2218
9	S	8X height	18	N/A
10	T	16X height	90	55

Example

The following will render a 22x22 Code One symbol encoding An Example:

createStream({
  symbology: SymbologyType.CODEONE,
  option2: 2
}, 'An Example')

Important

• Version S symbols can only encode numeric data.
• The widths of version S and version T symbols are determined by the lengths of their input data.

Grid Matrix

Encoding

By default Grid Matrix supports encoding in Latin-1 and Chinese characters within the GB 2312 standard set to be encoded in a checkerboard pattern. Input should be entered as a Unicode UTF-8 stream with conversion to GB 2312 being carried out automatically. The symbology also supports the ECI mechanism.

Error Correction and Size

There are two ways to set the error correction level:

• Specifying the Error correction capacity, via option1
• Specifying the Symbol Size via option2

Error correction capacity

The error correction capacity can be specified by setting the option1 value to one of the following inputs:

Mode	Error Correction Capacity
1	Approximately 10%
2	Approximately 20%
3	Approximately 30%
4	Approximately 40%
5	Approximately 50%

Symbol Size

The symbol size can be specified by setting the option2 value to one of the following inputs:

Input	Size
1	18 x 18
2	30 x 30
3	42 x 42
4	54 x 54
5	66 x 66
6	78 x 78
7	90x 90
8	102 x 102
9	114 x 114
10	126 x 126
11	138 x 138
12	150 x 150
13	162 x 162

Example

The following will render a 30x30 Grid Matrix symbol with 20% error correction encoding 12345:

createStream({
  symbology: SymbologyType.GRIDMATRIX,
  option1: 2,
  option2: 2
}, '12345')

Important

If you specify both of these values, this library will make a 'best-fit' attempt to satisfy both conditions.

DotCode

DotCode uses a grid of dots in a rectangular formation to encode characters up to a maximum of approximately 450 characters (or 900 numeric digits). The symbology supports ECI encoding and GS-1 data EncodingMode.

Width

By default, the library will produce a symbol which is approximately square. However, the width of the symbol can be adjusted by setting option2 to the desired width (in pixels).

Example

The following will render a DotCode symbol encoding 12345:

createStream({
  symbology: SymbologyType.DOTCODE
}, '12345')

Important

Outputting DotCode to PNG will require setting the scale of the image to a larger value than the default (~10 pixels) for the dots to be plotted correctly.

Note

Approximately 33% of the resulting symbol is comprised of error correction codewords.

Han Xin Code

Also known as Chinese Sensible Code, this symbology is capable of encoding characters in the GB-18030 character set and is also able to support the ECI mechanism.

Important

Han Xin does not support the encoding of GS-1 data.

Error Correction and Size

There are two ways to set the error correction level:

• Specifying the Error correction capacity, via option1
• Specifying the Symbol Size via option2

Error correction capacity

There are four levels of error correction capacity available for Han Xin Code. To specify one, set option1 to one of the following modes:

Mode	Recovery Capacity
1	Approx 8%
2	Approx 15%
3	Approx 23%
4	Approx 30%

Symbol Size

The size of the symbol can be specified by setting option2 to one of the following input values:

Input	Symbol Size	Input	Symbol Size
1	23 x 23	43	107 x 107
2	25 x 25	44	109 x 109
3	27 x 27	45	111 x 111
4	29 x 29	46	113 x 113
5	31 x 31	47	115 x 115
6	33 x 33	48	117 x 117
7	35 x 35	49	119 x 119
8	37 x 37	50	121 x 121
9	39 x 39	51	123 x 123
10	41 x 41	52	125 x 125
11	43 x 43	53	127 x 127
12	45 x 45	54	129 x 129
13	47 x 47	55	131 x 131
14	49 x 49	56	133 x 133
15	51 x 51	57	135 x 135
16	53 x 53	58	137 x 137
17	55 x 55	59	139 x 139
18	57 x 57	60	141 x 141
19	59 x 59	61	143 x 143
20	61 x 61	62	145 x 145
21	63 x 63	63	147 x 147
22	65 x 65	64	149 x 149
23	67 x 67	65	151 x 151
24	69 x 69	66	153 x 153
25	71 x 71	67	155 x 155
26	73 x 73	68	157 x 157
27	75 x 75	69	159 x 159
28	77 x 77	70	161 x 161
29	79 x 79	71	163 x 163
30	81 x 81	72	165 x 165
31	83 x 83	73	167 x 167
32	85 x 85	74	169 x 169
33	87 x 87	75	171 x 171
34	89 x 89	76	173 x 173
35	91 x 91	77	175 x 175
36	93 x 93	78	177 x 177
37	95 x 95	79	179 x 179
38	97 x 97	80	181 x 181
39	99 x 99	81	183 x 183
40	101 x 101	82	185 x 185
41	103 x 103	83	187 x 187
42	105 x 105	84	189 x 189

Example

The following will render a 33x33 Han Xin symbol encoding 12345 with ~23% error correction:

createStream({
  symbology: SymbologyType.HANXIN,
  option1: 3,
  option2: 6
}, '12345')

Important

It is not possible to select both symbol size and error correction capacity for the same symbol. If both options are selected then the error correction capacity selection will be ignored.

Ultracode

Ultracode uses a grid of coloured elements to encode data. ECI and GS-1 modes are supported.

Note

Compression is not implemented by default, but can be initiated by setting option3 to 128.

Error correction capacity

The amount of error correction can be set by setting option1 to one of the following values:

Value	Level	Amount of symbol-holding error correction data
1	EC0	0% - Error detection
2	EC1	Approx 5%
3	EC2	Approx 9% (default)
4	EC3	Approx 17%
5	EC4	Approx 25%
6	EC5	Approx 33%

Warning

Ultracode is a symbology which is still under development by Zint. It is strongly advised against its use in production.