The Stacked Barcode Family: Formats, Uses and Free Generation
Stacked symbologies slice a long payload into several short rows printed on top of each other, giving a code the capacity of a 2D symbol while staying friendly to scanners that sweep line by line. PDF417 can hold up to about 1.8 KB — driving licences, boarding passes and shipping labels lean on it.
The family includes full PDF417 and its Compact form, MicroPDF417 for small industrial marks, Codablock F used in EDIFACT and health-care labeling, and the historic Code 16K and Code 49 — the first stacked codes, still found in electronics and medical packaging.
Formats in this family
Each format below has its own reference page with exact data rules, options and generation steps.
Row counts, column counts and error-correction levels are configurable — pick a format below and tune the geometry until it fits your label.
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