2D Barcode

A 2D barcode is a graphical representation of a sequence of numbers or letters. It was designed to be easy to print, compact in size and readily read by a scanner. The barcode identifies an item, person or other object by a unique number that potentially links to information within a database. This allows the scanning of a barcode to bring up prices, product descriptions or medical patient information, depending on how the scanning system works. Unlike its one-dimensional counterpart, a 2D barcode is capable of storing far more information, primarily because it uses a grid-like array of dots instead of simply a sequence of lines.

The 2D barcode evolved from the one-dimensional design that was developed to help in managing the inventory of grocery stores. Over many decades it went through several changes as technology slowly caught up with the concept. It finally took collaboration between several large companies to make the concept work and spread it throughout retail outlets around the world.

The 2D barcode is an advance over the one-dimensional barcode for several reasons. It is able to represent more than just numerical data and instead can represent letters, numbers and other characters. It also contains a method of error correction to ensure the code was read into a computer correctly.