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Standards/micropdf417

MicroPDF417

Type2D Stacked Linear
Completeness75%high

Overview

MicroPDF417 is a two-dimensional, multi-row stacked barcode symbology derived from PDF417 3. It was designed as a compact, area-efficient variant of PDF417 for applications where data capacity requirements are modest but space is at a premium 13. The symbology supports between 1 and 4 data columns and a version-dependent number of rows, with a fixed level of Reed–Solomon error correction assigned to each symbol size 1. It was standardized as ISO/IEC 24728:2006 14.

History

MicroPDF417 was invented in 1996 by Frederick Schuessler, Kevin Hunter, Sundeep Kumar, and Cary Chu of Symbol Technologies 1. It reuses the "417" data-encoding principles devised for PDF417 in 1990, in which each codeword is rendered as a pattern of 4 bars and 4 spaces spanning 17 modules 1. In 2006 the symbology was registered as the international standard ISO/IEC 24728:2006 14. A central application driver for MicroPDF417 was its adoption as the compact 2D component of the GS1 Composite symbology family (CC-A and CC-B variants) 35.

Technical specification

MicroPDF417 is available in four column versions — with 1, 2, 3, or 4 data columns — and a constrained set of permissible row counts per version 1. The row ranges are: 1-column symbols of 11–28 rows; 2-column symbols of 8–26 rows; 3-column symbols of 6–44 rows; and 4-column symbols of 4–44 rows 1. Only specific combinations of rows and columns are valid, and each valid symbol size carries a fixed, predetermined amount of error correction 13.

Unlike PDF417, MicroPDF417 omits the wide start/stop bar patterns; instead it uses Row Address Patterns (RAP) — a Left RAP column, a Right RAP column, and (in 3- and 4-column versions) a Center RAP column — to enable row detection and addressing 1. This omission of the conventional start/stop pattern is a key reason for its smaller footprint 1.

Error correction uses Reed–Solomon codes, with the error-correction overhead occupying between roughly 28% and 67% of total symbol capacity depending on the version, allowing recovery from both erasures and substitution errors 1.

Three principal data-compaction modes are used to maximize density: Text compaction (printable ASCII values 32–126 plus selected control characters such as 9, 10, 13), Byte/Binary compaction (all 256 possible 8-bit values), and Numeric compaction for efficient encoding of digit strings 13. Maximum data capacity in the largest 4-column version is approximately 150 bytes, 250 alphanumeric characters, or 366 numeric digits 13. The symbology also supports Extended Channel Interpretation for Unicode, GS1 Application Identifier (UCC/EAN-128) emulation, Code 128 emulation, and ISO/IEC 15434 Macro support 1.

Use cases

MicroPDF417 is used primarily to add extended supplementary data to linear barcodes within compact label space, for example in inventory management and goods labeling 1. Its most prominent role is as the 2D component of GS1 Composite (CC-A and CC-B) symbols, which pair a linear GS1 barcode with a stacked 2D component for additional GS1-formatted data 35. It is well suited to small-item marking where a full PDF417 would be too large 3.

Implementations

  • Zint (github.com/zint/zint) — C; open-source encoding library supporting over 50 symbologies including MicroPDF417, PDF417, Code 16K, Codablock-F, and GS1 Composite symbols; ~771 stars; actively maintained 6.
  • BWIPP (Barcode Writer in Pure PostScript) (github.com/bwipp/postscriptbarcode) — PostScript; reference-quality pure-PostScript encoder with a dedicated MicroPDF417 module 7.

Comparison

Compared with full PDF417, MicroPDF417 trades data capacity for area efficiency: it caps out at roughly 150 bytes / 250 alphanumeric characters versus PDF417's far larger ceiling, but achieves a markedly smaller footprint by dropping the wide start/stop patterns in favor of Row Address Patterns and by using fixed (rather than user-selectable) error-correction levels 13. Where PDF417 offers flexible column/row sizing and selectable error-correction security levels, MicroPDF417 restricts both to a small predefined set of symbol sizes to keep symbols small and predictable 1. Because it is comparatively uncommon, many scanners require explicit configuration before they will decode MicroPDF417 3.

Status

MicroPDF417 is an active ISO/IEC standard (ISO/IEC 24728:2006) and remains in use chiefly through the GS1 Composite symbology, where it serves as the CC-A and CC-B 2D component 145. As a stand-alone symbology it is relatively niche compared with Data Matrix and QR Code 3.

Sources

  1. MicroPDF417 — Wikipedia — Wikipedia, accessed 2026
  2. ISO/IEC 24728:2006 — MicroPDF417 bar code symbology specification — ISO, 2006
  3. MicroPDF417 Barcode Information & Tutorial — BarcodeFAQ.com / IDAutomation
  4. ISO/IEC 24728:2006 — ISO, 2006
  5. GS1 Composite Symbols — BWIPP wiki
  6. zint/zint — GitHub, accessed 2026
  7. Barcode Writer in Pure PostScript — GitHub, accessed 2026

Deployments

No country reports mention this standard by name.

Regions / aggregations not mapped to a single country

  • Universal
source · content/standards/micropdf417/index.md