The main limitations to the size of your label are: the information you want to put on it and the information contained in your barcode (which affects it's size). You may already have a barcode on the packaging which you will be utilsing (so the rest of this page, may not apply to you). You can print barcodes really small, but you need to be able to accurately scan them.

Also, your barcode needs to be printed clearly and crisply. If the ink spreads or blurs on the label if will be difficult for the reader to accurately scan it. Have a look at the Problem Barcodes page for examples of potential problem labels.

For a barcode to be accurately read, it must have what is called ‘quiet space’ or an unprinted/white area at the beginning and end of the code, so when the reader passes over, it knows where it begins and ends.

There are recommendations about the best size and height to print a code and you can print at different sizes but pause for a moment and consider if you will be manually scanning the code (a person holding a scanning device or if it will be automatically scanned eg. on a production line). If the code is small or with limited bar height, then your positioning of the reader over the code needs to be really accurate. If this is the case and you are manually scanning the code, a successful read could take longer which means a slower transaction (something to consider if your business depends on larger volumes of product movement).

The other point to consider is if the code is difficult to scan (and I’ve seen this) then the guy with the scanner may get the huff and try to bypass the system, by manually keying in details making mistakes. Usually, because he feels that after 5 attempts to scan, the system is *@!*~! and broken, so there is no point using it. Which, of course you understand is nothing to do with the label being difficult to read!

So, if you are printing a barcode smaller than the sizes recommended by GS1 guidelines, you should use suitable sized label and a printer that prints the code as sharply as possible to enable scanning devices to read it.

I would also recommend that you test scan the code before committing to a print run (and the costs in time and money if your code won’t scan).