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Linear barcodes - also called 1D barcodes - are the classic kind: a single row of bars and spaces, with the value usually printed in clear under them. Every scanner reads them, laser scanners included, but they hold less than a 2D barcode and grow wider with every character.
| The linear symbologies | |
| Channel Code | The smallest: a number of up to seven digits, for tiny items. |
| Codabar | Digits and a few symbols, with start and stop letters. Libraries, blood banks. |
| Code 11 | Digits and hyphens. Telecommunications equipment. |
| Code 128 | Letters, digits and symbols, compact. Shipping and logistics, and GS1-128. |
| Code 2 of 5 | Digits only, in five versions, Interleaved the best known. Cartons, warehouses, airlines. |
| Code 39 | Capital letters, digits and a few symbols. Industry, ID badges, the health industry (HIBC). |
| Code 93 | All of ASCII, more compact than Code 39. |
| EAN | Retail products outside North America: EAN 13 and EAN 8. |
| Flattermarken | Marks for checking the order of folded sheets in book binding. |
| ISBN | Books: an EAN 13 with the ISBN printed above it. |
| ITF 14 | Cartons and outer cases: 14 digits in a bearer frame. |
| MSI Plessey | Digits only. Shelf labels and stock control. |
| Telepen | All of ASCII, or digits twice as dense. Libraries and universities in the United Kingdom. |
| UK Plessey | Digits and A to F. Libraries and shelves in the United Kingdom. |
| UPC | Retail products in the United States and Canada: UPC A and UPC E. |
What a linear barcode shares with all the others - the text position, the quiet zone, the color - is in the Barcode section. A value that doesn't fit shows a message in place of the barcode, and the symbology's page says what each message means.
