# \-Yes Yes, But What About Bar Codes?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-yes-but-what-about-bar-codes/61892>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 13, 2001, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-yes-but-what-about-bar-codes/61892 "2001-04-13T23:37:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2001, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-yes-but-what-about-bar-codes/61892/1 "2001-04-13T23:37:58Z")

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    - More specifically, is there anyplace that offers free UPC barcode fonts? I have seen a couple (free barcode fonts) already: Code 3X (which doesn’t appear at all to be the same as the standard UPC code) and another named 3of9 which _could_ be, I can’t tell. Most places that “sell” UPC bar code fonts bury it inside a utility that automatically prints the whole standard barcode, and they want too much and I don’t need all that anyway. I can lay the whole thing out with a graphics program, so all I need is the bar codes themselves. Anybody know? - MC

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**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2001, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-yes-but-what-about-bar-codes/61892/2 "2001-04-14T00:25:03Z")

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Code 3of9 is a standard barcode type, but I don’t think it is the same as UPCs. There’s a whole array of different barcode types, but I’m pretty sure the UPC one is just called “UPC”.

About five years ago, I worked on a project where I had to encode names into barcodes and print them onto a badge. I had no luck with the barcode fonts, because there has to be special start and stop patterns that the fonts seem incapable of producing. I settled on a fairly inexpensive shareware program that was accessible through DDE. I hope that helps you!

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**Author:** ![johnny\_fishface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@johnny\_fishface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnny_fishface)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2001, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-yes-but-what-about-bar-codes/61892/3 "2001-04-14T04:02:31Z")

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Unless you need your barcodes to work with something very specific, I think Greg’s solution should work because the barcode reading equipment I’ve worked with (Symbol, Intermec) could read any font.

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**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2001, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-yes-but-what-about-bar-codes/61892/4 "2001-04-14T06:31:03Z")

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Is something like this what you want?

[Barcode Server](http://www.milk.com/barcode/)

This site accepts numerical input from you and outputs an image. It will even compute a checksum and add text above the barcode. The barcode is valid, as it contains the correct beginning, central, and end characters. The service is web-based, but you should be able to save the file.

I hope that helps.