Barcode Colors

The best contrast is when the background reflects the light and the bars has no reflection. Wherever possible, all barcodes should be printed in black ink on a white background.

Scanners generally use a monochromatic red light source (lasers and CCDs) or infrared, that is invisible to humans.

If the barcode will be read by an infrared scanner, should be printed with a black ink based on carbon pigments, like laser or thermal transfer printers. Vegetable dyes used in dot matrix ribbons will print a barcode that cannot be read by infrared scanners.