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Code 16K

Code 16K is a 2D stacked symbology based on Code 128. It was developed in 1989 by Ted Williams, and is used primarily in the health care industry.

ClosedThe Character Set

Code 16K supports the use of the full 256 character extended-ASCII set with the use of the FNC4 shift character.

ClosedThe Symbology Structure

Code 16K contains 2 to 16 rows, with 5 ASCII characters in each row. In situations where less than 5 characters are encoded, the row is filled with placeholder characters. Each row consists of its own start and stop characters, and multiple rows are separated by a horizontal bearer bar.

The bearer bars on the bottom and top of the symbol include the leading and trailing quiet zones for the symbol. For this reason, they are longer than the bearer bars insider of the symbol.

Up to 107 Code 16K symbols can be stacked, allowing up to 8,025 ASCII characters or 16,050 numeric to be encoded.

ClosedThe Dimensions

The minimum X-dimension of Code 16K is 7.5 mils. Each row height must be a minimum of 8 times the value of the X-dimension.