Free PDF417 barcode generator
Render PDF417 stacked barcodes straight in your browser — type one value, paste a list, upload a CSV, or number a sequence, then download PNG, ZIP, or a print-ready Avery sheet. No sign-up, nothing uploaded anywhere.
Any text up to 1,108 bytes — a wide stacked code used on shipping papers and passes.
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You've scanned a PDF417 today if you printed a boarding pass at home — the wide, brick-wall-looking barcode on it is IATA's print format. The back of every US driver's license carries one too, and the freight world puts them on packing slips and customs forms — plus the hazmat declarations nobody enjoys reprinting. The pattern in that list: PDF417 shows up where a document has to carry a lot of structured data and survive being scanned off paper by a laser gun as well as a camera.
Technically it's a stacked symbology, not a true matrix code: 3 to 90 rows of linear codewords, which is why an old-school laser scanner can read it row by row where a QR code would need an imager. Capacity runs to about 1,850 text characters, or 1,108 binary bytes; the generator enforces the 1,108-byte cap as you type, which is conservative for plain text but keeps every payload inside what any decoder accepts — and Reed-Solomon error correction is selectable in nine levels, trading symbol size for damage tolerance.
Fair warning about the elephant on this page: a steady share of people searching for a PDF417 generator are trying to reproduce the barcode on a driver's license. The AAMVA payload on a license is a structured government record, and helping fabricate one isn't something this tool does — it renders the text you give it, nothing more. For shipping docs, transfer paperwork, and internal forms, that's exactly what you need.
One sizing note before you print. PDF417 is wide by design — a payload that makes a neat square QR makes a long ribbon here. If the label is small and square-ish, Data Matrix fits the same data in a fraction of the area; PDF417 wins on documents where horizontal space is free and legacy laser scanners are in play.
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Open repair toolPDF417 — common questions
The practical ones, asked after the first print run.
Why is my PDF417 barcode so wide?
That's the format working as designed — data stacks into rows of a fixed width, so more data means a wider, taller symbol. Shorten the payload if you can. If the shape fights your label, a Data Matrix code holds similar data in a compact square.Can I encode a whole shipping manifest into one code?
Up to the 1,108-byte cap, yes — that's a few hundred words of structured text. Past that, the honest answer is: don't. Encode a reference ID and let the scan look the manifest up in a system. A code that holds a pointer stays small, scans fast, and the data behind it can be corrected after printing.Does a phone camera read PDF417?
Mostly yes, with caveats: Google Lens and iPhone's Code Scanner handle clean prints, but PDF417 is fussier about focus than QR — small rows blur easily. Warehouse laser scanners read it natively; that legacy-hardware compatibility is the main reason the format is still everywhere. Our browser scanner decodes it from camera or an uploaded photo.What error-correction level does this tool use?
The encoder picks a level automatically from the payload size, which suits labels and documents. If a spec sheet demands a fixed level — some transport standards do — generate in the system that enforces that spec and use this tool for proofing the payload.
Equipment paperwork getting out of hand? Talk to sales
Rendering happens in your browser on a local canvas; values never touch our servers, and export libraries load only at the moment you download. Batches run up to 500 rows.
PDF417 tends to mark documents about equipment — the equipment itself usually wears a Code 128 or QR tag. UNIO24's tagging and smart labeling connects those tags to live records, which is how the transfer form this barcode sits on stops being needed at all.
