ITF-14, also known as UPC Shipping Container Symbol ITF-14, ITF14, is the GS1 implementation of an
Interleaved 2 of 5 barcode to encode a Global Trade Item Number.
ITF-14 symbols are generally used on packaging levels of a product, such as a case box of 24 cans of soup. The ITF-14 will always encode 14 digits.
The ITF-14 is a durable barcode that is less sensitive to poor print quality. It is therefore suitable when a barcode needs to be printed directly on corrugated board.
The basic characteristics of ITF-14 barcode are:
An ITF-14 barcode symbol includes:
A simple example for ITF-14 barcode symbol structure:
The purpose of a bearer bar is to equalise the pressure exerted by the printing plate over the entire surface of the symbol and to enhance
reading reliability by helping to reduce the probability of
misreads or short scans that may occur when a skewed scanning beam enters or exits the barcode through its top or bottom edge.
The ITF-14 bearer bar is mandatory unless it is not technically feasible to apply it (in which case reading reliability will be reduced).
For printing methods that do not require printing plates, the bearer bar SHALL be a minimum of twice the width of a narrow bar (dark bar)
and need only appear at the top and bottom of the symbol, butting directly against the top and bottom of the symbol bars (dark bars).
The bearer bar may extend above and below the Quiet Zones. However, it is not mandatory to print the vertical sections of the bearer bar.
A sample ITF-14 barcode with bearer bars around:
A sample ITF-14 barcode without vertical bearer bars:
ITF-14 encodes digits (0-9) only.
Table-1: defines the ITF-14 symbol's character encodation. In the binary representation column, the character 1 represents a wide element
and 0 represents a narrow element.
| Data character | Binary representation | ||||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
With ITF-14 barcodes, the data string, including the check digit, will always be a 14-digit number.
ITF-14 includes one start pattern, and one stop pattern.
The start pattern shall consist of four narrow elements in the sequence "bar - space - bar - space". The stop
pattern shall consist of a "wide bar - narrow space - narrow bar" sequence.
The start pattern shall be positioned at the normal left end of the data symbol characters adjacent to the first
bar of the most significant digit. The stop pattern shall be positioned at the normal right end of the data symbol
characters adjacent to the final space of the least significant digit.
There is no assigned human readable interpretation of the start and stop patterns and the start/stop will not be displayed in the ITF-14 barcode text.
For applications requiring enhanced data security, ITF-14 should include one checksum digit as a symbol check character.
When a check digit included, the following check character algorithm shall be used:
ITF-14 symbols SHALL use the following nominal dimensions:
As an example, for an ITF-14 barcode symbol that has seven character pairs, a target wide-to-narrow ratio of 2.5:1, a target X width of 1.016 millimetres (0.0400 inch) and Quiet Zone widths of 10.16 millimetres (0.400 inch) the total symbol width is 142.75 millimetres (5.620 inches).
ITF-14 barcode minimum X-dimension is 0.495mm. Its recommended X-dimension is also 0.495mm.
ITF-14 barcode maximum X-dimension is 1.016mm.
ITF-14 barcode minimum height is 31.75mm. Its recommended barcode height is also 31.75mm.
Note: For ITF-14 the height is measured from the bottom to the top of the bars, excluding the bearer bars.
ITF-14 barcode maximum height is 31.75mm.
The minimum width of the Quiet Zone to the left and right of the ITF-14 barcode is 10X.