Industrial solutions for
product marking & coding
Industrial solutions for
product marking & coding
Development & manufacture
"Made in Germany"
50 years of experience
in business & industry

Decoding barcodes

What does decoding a barcode mean?

Decoding a barcode is an operation that consists in converting a barcode back to its alphanumeric characters so that it can be read.

How is a barcode decoded?

In order to decode a barcode, a specific device is required. This device will usually be a barcode scanner, although other devices like RFID sensors or even the camera of a smartphone can be used to decode a barcode.

When decoding with a barcode reader, the barcode is hit by a red light coming from the barcode reader. Usually, the barcode reader emits a sound to indicate that the reading process was successfully completed. Once the reading process is over, the information encoded in the barcode is displayed on a screen (normally a computer screen). This information often consists of a code (e.g. a product code, a bill number), although it may also consist of other data (e.g. a URL).

Why is decoding barcodes important?

Decoding barcodes has several advantages, not only for businesses, but also for consumers.

The main advantage of decoding a barcode is that the information encoded in the barcode can be safely and easily transferred to a computer system. This allows businesses to be much more efficient and fast when doing a specific task. For example: instead of typing the price of a product on a computer, cashiers use barcode scanners to decode the information contained in a product’s barcode, including its price. This allows cashiers to do their job much faster and increase their productivity.

In addition to efficiency, decoding barcodes can be used to trace the origin of a certain product, ingredient or component. This becomes especially important during product recalls, where all defective items must be quickly identified in order to avoid further damage. And since production chains can be extremely complex, ensuring the traceability of an ingredient or component is considered as essential.

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Weber Marking Systems GmbH

Maarweg 33
53619 Rheinbreitbach
Germany