Stand-alone software for Code 128 and Code 39 The Softmatic barcode plug-ins and extensions for InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop are available on the Adobe Exchange. For more videos, see the Softmatic Youtube Channel If the code does not scan you may have createdĬreate Code 128 and Code 39 in Illustrator, InDesignĮasy to use barcode plug-ins and extensions for Adobe InDesign, Illustrator und Photoshop. With Code 128 almost all barcode readers on the market today will will expect a checksum with the barcode.If so, a barcode with only three characters will not scan. By default, many scanners require a barcode to encode at least four characters.A space (the so called "quiet zone") of at least five to ten millimeters should be left around the code. the width of the narrowest bar) should not beīelow 0.3 mm. Sure that the code is not printed too small. For Code 128 and Code 39, a resolution of 150-200dpi or higher is recommended (the sample codes above were created with 150dpi). Make sure that the barcode symbology is actually activated in the barcode scanner.If a printed barcode can not be scanned, check this: It is safe to assume that all current barcode readers will scan both code symbologies. Code 39 is therefore easy to use with a barcode font, for example in Excel: Enter data, add "*" for start and stop code and format the text with the font. While Code 128 is almost always used with a check digit, Code 39 symbols can be created without one. Code 128 and Code 39 check digit calculationīoth code symbologies employ a simple check digit calculation algorithm that involves summing up the individual symbols and then modulo divide the sum by some factor. Several 2D barcodes are Unicode capable, popular examples are Datamatrix and QR (cellphone barcode). Likewise, emojis or similar content can not be encoded. Neither code symbology supports encoding Unicode characters or non-latin codepages like cyrillic. Unicode, non-latin, cyrillic, asian scripts with Code 128 and Code 39 Neither code can easily encode accented or diacritic characters ("Umlauts"). Use of two symbols per character to encode the full ASCII set ( table of Code 39 Extended characters). As illustrated with the small caps above, the symbology requires the Natively, Code 39 will only encode letters A-Z, digits 0-9 and a handful of special characters. Code 128 and Code 39 supported characters setsīoth codes support the full ASCII set of 128 characters including control characters like "TAB", "CARRIAGE RETURN", etc. The barcode is considerably larger:Ĭonclusion: Code 128 has much higher data density than Code 39 - it can encode more data in a smaller symbol. Code 128 with "12345678":Ĭode 39, however, can not compress the encoded data. Here, a single symbol within a code encodes two digits. This not only takes up much more space on labels and packaging it can also cause problems during scanning if the barcode is wider than the reading window of the scanner.Ĭode 128 features a numeric compaction mode. Here, each letter is encoded with two symbols, resulting in a barcode that is almost twice as wide: Code 128 with "abcdef" has the same size as the large cap barcode:Ĭode 39, however, can't natively encode small caps instead, the barcode generator has to switch to Code 39 Extended. This changes dramatically when we need to encode small caps. The symbol is about 30% wider but still manageable: Here is a Code 128 symbol encoding "ABCDEF":Ĭode 39 with the same data. The output resolution is 150dpi.Įncoding capital letters yields the smallest difference in size. All barcodes below were created with a module height of 15mm and a module width of 0.5mm (a module is the thinnest bar). We begin by looking at the size of individual symbols for different kinds of data. Comparing the size of Code 128 and Code 39 Requires data conversion and check digit calculationįor further reading, we also have more in-depth articles on both barcode symbologies: Code 39 explained and Code 128 explained. The two symbologies and look at the pros and cons of both barcode types.Ĭode 128 vs Code 39 at a glance: PropertyĬontrol characters, Alphanumeric, Numeric Compaction On this page we describe the differences between Code 39 - What are the differencesĬode 128 (top) and Code 39 (bottom) are two popular choices for encoding alpha-numeric data and letters in a barcode symbol.
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