A barcode (also bar code) is a machine-readable (using dark ink on white substrate to create high and low reflectance which is converted to 1s and 0s) representation of information in a visual format on a surface. Originally barcodes stored data in the widths and spacings of printed parallel lines, but today they also come in patterns of dots, concentric circles, and text codes hidden within images. Barcodes can be read by optical scanners called barcode readers or scanned from an image by special software. Barcodes are widely used to implement Auto ID Data Capture (AIDC) systems that improve the speed and accuracy of computer data entry.

Since their invention in the 20th century, barcodes — especially the UPC code — have slowly become an essential part of modern civilization. Their use is widespread, and the technology behind barcodes is constantly improving. Practically every item purchased from a grocery store, department store, and mass merchandiser has a barcode on it. This greatly helps in keeping track of the large number of items in a store and also reduces instances of shoplifting (since shoplifters could no longer easily switch price tags from a lower-cost item to a higher-priced one). Since the adoption of barcodes, both consumers and retailers have profited from the savings generated.

* Document Management tools often allow for barcoded sheets to facilitate the separation and indexing of documents.
* Rental car companies keep track of their cars by means of barcodes on the car’s glass or bumper.
* Airlines track passenger luggage with barcodes, reducing the chance of loss.
* Recently, researchers have placed tiny barcodes on individual bees to track the insects’ mating habits.
* The movement of nuclear waste can be tracked easily with a bar-code inventory system.
* The US Postal System uses barcodes (POSTNET) to track letters and shipments.
* Books have a unique barcode (ISBN) that allows a reader to identify it anywhere on the world.

The reason bar codes are business friendly is that bar code scanners are relatively low costing and extremely accurate – only about 1/100,000 entries will be wrong.

This Google Gadget is part of the several projects MT-Soft has worked on related to barcodes. It allows its users to select the barcode encoding (128-A, 128-B, 128-C, 2of5 (Indust.), 2of5 (Int.), 2of5 (Std.), CODABAR, Code39 (3of9), Code93, EAN-8, EAN-13, ISBN, POSTNET, UPC-A, UPC-E), customize the resulting barcode (background and bar colors), as well as bar height and thickness and finally, the image type you want to create (PNG is the preferred one but you can also choose GIF or JPEG). You can then use the resulting image to add barcodes to whatever you want (DVD collection, “old-things” boxes, etc.). Feel free to use it and send any comments along.