Micro PDF-417

Micro PDF-417 is a compact 2D symbology derived from PDF-417, designed for applications that need better area efficiency without PDF-417's full data capacity.

Micro PDF-417 is a 2D, multi-row symbology derived from and closely based on PDF-417. Micro PDF-417 is designed for applications that need improved area efficiency, without requiring PDF-417's maximum data capacity. A limited set of symbol sizes is available, together with a fixed level of error correction for each symbol.

X and Y Dimensions: The X dimension is the width of the narrowest bar in a printed codeword. The Y dimension is the height of each row within the MicroPDF417 symbol. MicroPDF is usually printed with an X to Y ratio between 1:2 and 1:5. Changing the X to Y ratio to 1:2 or 1:3 saves a significant amount of space. However, some scanners cannot read X to Y ratios below 1:3, and most read best at 1:4.

There are three compaction modes:

• Text Compaction permits all printable ASCII characters 32-126 plus ASCII 9, 10 and 13.
• Binary Compaction permits all 256 ASCII values.
• Numeric Compaction permits efficient encoding of numeric data.

Maximum data characters:

• Text -- 250 characters in the best case, for example if all characters are uppercase. In text compaction mode, the amount of data that can be encoded varies due to mode switching between different character types, such as numbers, upper case, lower case, and punctuation.
• Binary -- 150 characters.
• Numeric -- 366 digits (numbers only).

Number of data columns: 1 - 4

Number of rows: 4 - 44, but only available in defined combinations with the number of columns

Micro PDF-417 is designed for applications where the symbol must be smaller than PDF-417 allows.

For more information visit www.symbol.com and www.pdf417.com.