Postal Barcodes
Mail sorting and delivery-point barcodes. Choose a format below to generate one for free — no sign-up required.
About postal barcodes
Postal barcodes look different from every other family here because they encode data in the *height* of the bars rather than the width. Sorting machines read them at speed off envelopes travelling on a belt, where a height difference survives smudging and skew far better than a fine width difference would.
Each postal service runs its own: POSTNET and PLANET in the United States, both long since superseded by the Intelligent Mail barcode, which carries the routing information of one and the tracking information of the other in a single symbol; RM4SCC for Royal Mail in the United Kingdom. They are not interchangeable, and printing the wrong country's symbol simply means the mail is sorted by hand.
For these, placement is as regulated as the symbol. Each service specifies where on the envelope the barcode goes, how much clear space surrounds it, and what may not appear in that zone. A correctly generated barcode in the wrong position is not read at all.
Postal Barcodes — frequently asked questions
For new work, no. USPS retired POSTNET and PLANET in favour of the Intelligent Mail barcode, which does both jobs in one symbol. The older formats are here because existing systems still produce and read them, not because they are the right choice today.