Is there a good LaTeX package for generating barcodes?

Question

I'm looking for a good LaTeX package to generate one dimensional barcodes, that has the following properties.

1. It doesn't require any external scripts or internet connection to work.
2. It easily compiles to pdfs (so no pstricks hackery).

Do any such packages exist? An optional bonus would be if it could generate QR codes.

Answer 1

I wanted to try and tackle this question because I saw many solutions based on a dedicated font, and I thought: “Why use a font when you have perfectly good \vrule’s with TeX”. And so (in plain-tex):

\def\barcode#1#2#3#4#5#6#7{\begingroup%
  \dimen0=0.1em
  \def\stack##1##2{\oalign{##1\cr\hidewidth##2\hidewidth}}%
  \def\0##1{\kern##1\dimen0}%
  \def\1##1{\vrule height10ex width##1\dimen0}%
  \def\L##1{\ifcase##1\bc3211##1\or\bc2221##1\or\bc2122##1\or\bc1411##1%
    \or\bc1132##1\or\bc1231##1\or\bc1114##1\or\bc1312##1\or\bc1213##1%
    \or\bc3112##1\fi}%
  \def\R##1{\bgroup\let\next\1\let\1\0\let\0\next\L##1\egroup}%
  \def\G##1{\bgroup\let\bc\bcg\L##1\egroup}% reverse
  \def\bc##1##2##3##4##5{\stack{\0##1\1##2\0##3\1##4}##5}%
  \def\bcg##1##2##3##4##5{\stack{\0##4\1##3\0##2\1##1}##5}%
  \def\bcR##1##2##3##4##5##6{\R##1\R##2\R##3\R##4\R##5\R##6\11\01\11\09%
    \endgroup}%
  \stack{\09}#1\11\01\11\L#2%
  \ifcase#1\L#3\L#4\L#5\L#6\L#7\or\L#3\G#4\L#5\G#6\G#7%
    \or\L#3\G#4\G#5\L#6\G#7\or\L#3\G#4\G#5\G#6\L#7%
    \or\G#3\L#4\L#5\G#6\G#7\or\G#3\G#4\L#5\L#6\G#7%
    \or\G#3\G#4\G#5\L#6\L#7\or\G#3\L#4\G#5\L#6\G#7%
    \or\G#3\L#4\G#5\G#6\L#7\or\G#3\G#4\L#5\G#6\L#7%
  \fi\01\11\01\11\01\bcR}

\barcode 7046260816138
\bye

Which looks like:

Answer 2

With the pst-barcode-package you can produce all sorts of barcodes. For example,

\documentclass{minimal}
\usepackage{pst-barcode}

\begin{document}
\begin{pspicture}(3.5,1.2in)
    \psbarcode{12345678}{includetext inkspread=0.5}{ean8}
\end{pspicture}
\end{document}

The disadvantage is of course that you have to go the latex → dvips → ps2pdf route for compilation, so it doesn't fulfill your requirement (2).

[I have never used pst-barcode myself, but I just saw this answer by Michael Underwood and thought that it applies here as well and might be useful for someone.]

Answer 3

Have a look at Typesetting Barcode in the TeX Catalogue Online. It lists some packages.

Answer 4

You can take a look on barracuda package that directly generate PDF vector graphics with an internal Lua library. So, it works with any Lua-based typesetting engine like LuaLaTeX, filling inside an hbox the symbols. A minimal example with the barracuda.sty LaTeX package is showed here:

% !TeX program = LuaLaTeX
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{barracuda}
\begin{document}
\barracuda{code39}{123ABC}
\end{document}

Answer 5

There is the ean13isbn package: http://www.ctan.org/pkg/ean13isbn. Then there is the GS1 package: http://www.ctan.org/pkg/gs1. Both can produce EAN8 and EAN13. But I am completely disappointed that both packages use bitmap fonts (not outline fonts) for the digits below the barcode. If, in case of the GS1 package, I turn off the usage of the ocrb font, the result looks bad. The numbers are too close to the barcode. The ean13isbn package doesn't have many options it seems. And I am not really sure how I set a different font. For both packages however, the barcode itself it not a bitmap which should be a good thing as far as print quality is concerned.

And then we have this online ISBN barcode generator: http://bookow.com/resources.php. This is the best one I have found so far in the sense that (1) it generates PDFs with vector graphics and (2) the PDF contains the text as outlines. There are no pixels whatsoever in the PDF. However, the text font is not embedded in the PDF. I'm pretty sure it can be abused for EAN13 codes in general, if one clips the ISBN text away.