What is a barcode quiet zone?
The quiet zone is the blank margin a barcode or QR code needs around it, with nothing printed inside, so a scanner can tell where the code starts and ends.
What it means for your file
An EAN-13 barcode needs 11 bar-widths on the left and 7 on the right (about 3.6 mm and 2.3 mm at standard size), a UPC-A needs 9 on each side, and a QR code needs 4 of its squares on every side.
A barcode from a generator or a supplier, placed as an EPS, SVG or PDF, usually has its quiet zones built in as blank space around the bars, so don’t crop the frame tight to them. To check one, measure from the outermost bar, or the outer edge of a QR code’s corner squares, to the nearest printed mark.
An example
At standard size (100%), one bar-width, called the X-dimension, is 0.33 mm. So an EAN-13 needs about 3.6 mm clear to the left of its bars and 2.3 mm to the right, and a UPC-A about 3 mm either side; quiet zones included, either code is 37.29 mm wide. At 80%, the smallest GS1 allows at a checkout, the EAN-13’s become about 2.9 mm and 1.8 mm. A QR code 20 mm wide with 25 squares across needs 3.2 mm clear on every side.
A common mistake
Cropping the quiet zone off to fit a narrow panel, or letting a border, a fold, the edge of the label or a line of text creep into it. The space looks empty, but to a scanner any mark there reads as another bar, so the code scans wrong or not at all. On a dark or busy design, the quiet zone has to be a plain, light patch too, like the background behind the bars.
How to fix it
If your printer sent the file back saying “The barcode is too small to scan,” the fix page has the step-by-step way to do it yourself, and a fixed price if you’d rather have it done.
Where else it comes up
All print terms in the glossary, or run your file through the free print-ready checker.
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