Acceptable Barcode Colours

The colour of both the print and the media is an important consideration when printing bar codes, since scanners rely on contrast to read them.

Chart 1: shows combinations of colours that have enough contrast (more than 63%) to be scanned.

Chart 2: shows colours that should not be used, either because they do not have enough contrast or because they cannot be read by the scanner. The darker colour in the bar code must be visible through a WRATTEN 26 red filter (a red filter similar to the one used in three-dimensional glasses).