PDF417

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20 Sep 2026 - Nicola Asuni

PDF417 is stacked rather than matrix: rows of codewords, each 17 modules wide and made of four bars and four spaces, which is where the name comes from. Driving licences and boarding passes carry it because a linear scanner sweeping across the rows can read it.

An aspect ratio sets the shape, and the nine error correction levels run from 2 correctable codewords at level 0 to 512 at level 8.

Type Token

Item	Value
Type token	`PDF417`
Enum case	`BarcodeType::PDF417`
Family	2D
Standard	ISO/IEC 15438
Class	`\Com\Tecnick\Barcode\Type\Square\PdfFourOneSeven`

Input

Item	Value
Character set	any byte sequence
Length	up to 2710 digits or 1850 text characters
Check	Reed-Solomon error correction at the chosen level
Extra parameters	3 (see below)

Extra Parameters

Appended to the type token after commas, as in PDF417,2,5.

Position	Meaning	Values	Default
1	aspect ratio	a number not less than 1	2
2	error correction level	0 to 8	automatic
3	macro block parameters	segment index, file id and options	unset

Examples

Digits at the automatic error correction level

<?php

require_once __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

$barcode = new \Com\Tecnick\Barcode\Barcode();
$bobj = $barcode->getBarcodeObj(
    type: 'PDF417',
    code: '0123456789',
    width: -4,
    height: -4,
    color: 'black',
    padding: [0, 0, 0, 0],
)->setBackgroundColor('white');

echo $bobj->getInlineSvgCode();

PDF417 barcode encoding 0123456789

Aspect ratio 4 at error correction level 2

$bobj = $barcode->getBarcodeObj(
    type: 'PDF417,4,2',
    code: 'tc-lib-barcode',
    width: -4,
    height: -4,
    color: 'black',
    padding: [0, 0, 0, 0],
)->setBackgroundColor('white');

PDF417 barcode encoding tc-lib-barcode

Errors

These payloads raise \Com\Tecnick\Barcode\Exception:

Payload	Message
``	Empty input