JAB Code

Overview

JAB Code ("Just Another Bar Code") is an open, high-capacity colour 2D matrix barcode developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology (SIT). Unlike monochrome QR or Data Matrix codes, JAB Code uses coloured square modules — typically 4 or 8 colours — to pack more bits into each module, raising data density at the same physical size ²³. It is the basis of the international standard ISO/IEC 23634:2022 and ships with an open-source (LGPL) reference encoder and decoder ³⁴.

History

JAB Code was developed at Fraunhofer SIT on behalf of Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) ⁵. It was submitted to ISO/IEC standardization as ISO/IEC 23634 and finalized in 2022, making it an internationally standardized colour barcode ¹⁵. Fraunhofer published the reference implementation and specification openly, positioning JAB Code as a license-free alternative for high-capacity and document-security applications ³⁵.

Technical specification

• Colour modules: JAB Code encodes data in coloured square modules. It supports 4 colours (2 bits/module) or 8 colours (3 bits/module) by default, with the specification permitting palettes up to 256 colours; the four base colours map to the CMYK model and the secondary four are red, green, blue, and white ¹².
• Capacity gain: a 4-colour code stores roughly twice, and an 8-colour code roughly three times, the data of a monochrome (two-colour) code of the same size, allowing whole messages to be embedded directly rather than referencing an external database ¹⁷.
• Symbol structure: a single primary symbol carries four finder patterns at its corners; optional secondary symbols (which omit finder patterns) can "dock" horizontally or vertically onto the primary or other secondaries, supporting square or rectangular layouts and large total areas ¹³.
• Error correction: JAB Code uses Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) codes for error correction, with user-selectable strength (commonly cited as 11 levels, 0–10, default 3 per ISO/IEC 23634:2022) ².
• Reference implementation: written in C (C11), comprising a core library (src/jabcode), a writer (jabcodeWriter), and a reader (jabcodeReader); buildable on Linux and via MinGW-w64 on Windows ⁴.

Use cases

• Document security and authenticity: verifying certificates, wills, and prescriptions; embedding digital signatures so a document can be checked offline without a database lookup ⁵.
• Anti-counterfeiting of products, where the high capacity stores full signed payloads on the item itself ⁵.
• General high-density data carriage where a QR code would be too small or require an online reference ¹⁷.

Implementations

The official reference implementation is jabcode/jabcode on GitHub, an LGPL v2.1, C-language encoder and decoder maintained by Fraunhofer SIT, with API documentation, the ISO/IEC 23634:2022 spec, and a live demo at jabcode.org ³⁴. Because the format is open and not subject to licensing, third-party ports and wrappers also exist ¹⁵.

Comparison

JAB Code's defining departure from QR / Data Matrix is the use of colour as a third information dimension, multiplying per-module capacity (2–3×) while keeping a familiar finder-pattern-and-matrix layout; the cost is reliance on colour-faithful printing and capture ¹⁷. Against Microsoft's High Capacity Color Barcode (HCCB) — which also uses 4 or 8 colours but arranges them as clusters of coloured triangles and was commercialized as the now-discontinued Microsoft Tag — JAB Code uses coloured square modules, is fully open and ISO-standardized, and is actively maintained, whereas HCCB/Microsoft Tag has been retired ⁷. JAB Code's main practical weakness relative to QR is limited reader ecosystem and adoption ⁷.

Fun facts

• JAB Code was created for the German Federal Office for Information Security, with document-forgery resistance (including pairing with "paper fingerprinting") among its design goals ⁵.
• Its eight default colours are the CMYK primaries (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) plus red, green, blue, and white ¹.

Status

Active. Standardized as ISO/IEC 23634:2022, with an openly maintained LGPL reference encoder/decoder and a public demo; free of licensing restrictions ¹³⁵.

Sources

1 JAB Code — Wikipedia, 2024 2 JAB Code — Grokipedia, 2025 3 JAB Code — official project site — Fraunhofer SIT, 2024 4 jabcode/jabcode reference implementation — Fraunhofer SIT (GitHub), 2024 5 Color barcode becomes ISO standard — Fraunhofer SIT, 2022 7 Comparison to other similar barcodes / High Capacity Color Barcode — Wikipedia, 2024

Deployments

No country reports mention this standard by name.

Regions / aggregations not mapped to a single country

• Universal